Young engineers from Highfields have made it through to the finals of a prestigious national competition after being challenged to build and program robots to take part in a series of ‘space missions’.

The seven-strong team of students are being recognised for their skills and innovation as part of the Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge.

The challenge is a curriculum-linked national programme that gives 11-14 year-olds the chance to learn how to build, program and control autonomous LEGO robots to complete a series of ‘space missions’ using LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 sets.

It is supported by the Helsington Foundation, the Royal Air Force and Rolls-Royce.

The team from Highfields competed against other schools in the region to earn a place at the UK finals in Birmingham.

As a winner in the West Midlands heat, which was held at the RAF Museum, Cosford, they will now go head-to-head with teams from across the country at The Big Bang Fair on Friday, March 17th.

The team built, programmed and controlled LEGO robots for a series of missions, including launching rockets, deploying solar panels and assembling crew. They also researched, designed, planned and presented their own solution to a contemporary scientific problem developed by LEGO Education with NASA – How can humans live in space? This presentation was delivered to two military engineers, one from the Navy and one from the RAF.

During the heats, the team was praised for confidence and teamwork, with special mention given to Year 7 student Dylon Jeer for his considered responses to the experts’ questions.

Science teacher, Miss L.Prosser, said: “The team have done a fantastic job to make it through the heats and are now looking forward to the challenge of competing against schools from across the country in the final.”