End-Tech, an all-star squad from Endon High School in Staffordshire, pulled off the upset of the century. Most importantly, they won their regional Lego League competition! This victory represents their second (and back-to-back) victory at this level, a testament to the hard work and talent of these young roboticists. The ultra creative five person crew teams up Malachi as well as Owen. They already are looking forward towards their representing Staffordshire in the first Lego League UK National Final in Harrogate on February.
The regional contest this year had a record number of schools/teams competing, with teams traveling from as far away as Bradford to compete. End-Tech impressed judges by successfully executing a variety of tasks and challenges throughout the competition. This opened up an opportunity to show off their robot’s amazing capabilities. The team’s creative approach helped them use colour sensors in a new way, leading to improved accuracy and function.
End-Tech invested huge amounts of time into the project, with many hours in school and after school spent coding and constructing their robot. Malachi says that after switching to the new coding software based on Python, they were able to make some coding improvements that really enhanced the robot’s capabilities.
“We’ve swapped to a new coding software that uses Python so it’s much more accurate than it used to be.” – Malachi
Owen added that the team developed a “whole different robot with colour sensors this time,” which facilitated easier operation during the competition. That strategic expansion ended up being critical because the race was incredibly close this year.
James, another team member, described the contest day as “nail biting.” The energy in the room was electric as teams passionately battled for the win. For figuring out how to get over every hurdle, End-Tech’s flexibility to reconfigure their machine was key. They iterated on it even further during the course of the contest.
End-Tech’s members are just getting ready for the national final. As their competition date approaches, they are focusing on fine-tuning their robot and perfecting their presentation skills. They’re thrilled at the prospect of showing the fruits of their labor and commitment on an even bigger stage.