End-Tech, a creative group of five students from Endon High School in Staffordshire, have come out on top in their regional Lego competition. This victory has now secured them a place at the first Lego League UK National Final later this year! The rigorous competition that drew over 60 competing teams had End-Tech surpass teams from all over, even taking down a tough opposing team from Bradford.
The team, comprised of James, Malachi, Owen, and two others, dedicated countless hours to coding and constructing their robot for the contest. That commitment proved to be a boon when they were able to greatly improve the machine’s functionality by optimizing the machine with color sensors. Wellicome explained that these improvements even helped make the robot “a touch more user-friendly.”
End-Tech’s hard work did not go unnoticed. The students received points for completing specific challenges set by the judges and gave an engaging presentation about their robot as part of the contest requirements. Malachi highlighted the competitive nature of this year’s event, stating that it was “tighter due to teams being better this year.” Perhaps most remarkably, this win is enough to give End-Tech a second consecutive victory at this prestigious competition’s final stage.
The team invested hundreds of hours both during and after school to fine tune their robot. They even folded in new coding software, powered by Python, to up its game. Malachi emphasized the benefits of this upgrade, stating, “We’ve swapped to a new coding software that uses Python so it’s much more accurate than it used to be.” This commitment to improvement was a big part of their success.
James remembered the day of the final competition as “nail-biting,” a testament to the stress, tension, and thrill that colored their winning performance. End-Tech now has its sights set on the national tournament in Harrogate. Like any team that’s on a winning streak, they intend to build on their victorious momentum.