End-Tech, a robotics team from Endon High School, Staffordshire have captured an opportunity to compete at the national tournament. They clinched this title by taking home the victory at the regional competition. Competitors came a good distance from Bradford to take part in the competition. This fact combined to make the five-member team’s victory, which includes Owen, James, Malachi and two other students, all the more impressive.
The regional contest showcased teams demonstrating their innovative robots, which were designed to navigate a series of obstacles and challenges set by judges. End-Tech’s robot was impressive because it had some really cutting edge features, like colour sensors that really ramped up what the robot could do. Throughout the competition, the team earned points for tasks they were able to accomplish. They further gained superior points for providing an engaging and informative presentation regarding their robot.
This victory is an accomplishment for End-Tech, winning this stage of competition back-to-back. Malachi pointed out that the competition was stiffer than ever this year, saying, “Teams are just better this year. This is a testament to the deepening level of competition and excellence in the rapidly growing field of robotics. The team dedicated countless hours designing, coding and constructing their autonomous robot during school days and late into the night. Microsoft learned that they should iterate on its design with each successive version.
Alongside winning the regional contest, End-Tech will now go on to represent Staffordshire at the national tournament in Harrogate. They’re due to take part in the first Lego League UK National Final later this year. Owen was thrilled by the robot’s newfound talents. He explained, “This is a completely different robot with color sensors this time, so it’s more user friendly!
The team has achieved great things in their educational programming. Malachi explained, “We’ve swapped to a new coding software that uses Python so it’s much more accurate than it used to be.” This innovation not only helped them get successful but shows the team’s desire to innovate and improve.
End-Tech’s experience in the competitions shows their work ethic and commitment to robotics. Their success is an encouragement to other aspiring engineers and tech enthusiasts in their community and across the world.