End-Tech, a gifted trio from Endon High School in Staffordshire, have won the prize in their regional competition. This victory is an amazing second straight victory of theirs! The team, consisting of members Owen, James, Ethan Saunders, and Malachi, will now represent Staffordshire at the first Lego League UK National Final in Harrogate.
In fact, the 2023 regional competition was by far the most competitive in recent memory. Moses Malachi added, “Everybody’s teams are just better this year,” emphasizing the higher level of competition that was present. End-Tech carried out a successful demo of their innovative robot, developed to perform different missions and avoid obstacles. They won under some stiff competition.
The team’s robot had some pretty advanced technology, including colour sensors which improved efficiency and performance. Owen remarked, “We’ve got a whole different robot with colour sensors this time, that makes it a bit easier to use.” This technological development gave the team a strategic advantage, enabling them to address the challenge problems more efficiently and effectively.
Preparation for the contest involved extensive teamwork. Each of the members spent a lot of extracurricular time after school literally coding and building their robot. They iterated and prototyped along the way during their production process, making sure that their watermelon was tuned and ready for the engagement tasks it would face. The judges created rigorous missions, designed to push the adaptability and accuracy of the robot. The robot accrued rewards based on each step it correctly performed.
End-Tech severely over-designed and over-programmed the robot. They provided a really impressive 11-minute live presentation on their project, which demonstrated both their dedication and profound understanding of all things robotics.
As they look ahead to the national tournament in Harrogate, the young team can be proud of how far they’ve come. Malachi said he was proud of how far his team had come and looking forward to the new competition. “We’ve swapped to a new coding software that uses Python so it’s much more accurate than it used to be,” he noted, underscoring their efforts to enhance their robot’s functionality.