Budding young engineers from Reading crowned FIRST® LEGO® League England and Wales champions
Published: Thu 27 Feb 2020
The winning team – ShapeShifters – is made up of Ishika Jain (aged 15), Shruthi Lakshmanan (aged 15), Nikitha Prabhakar (aged 15), Jessica (aged 14), Shriya Bangalore Chandramouli (aged 12), Tishna Raj Yajaman (aged 13), Emily Wu (aged 13), Bidisha Ghosh (aged 15), Samragee Dey (aged 13) and Pihu Vijya (aged 13).
They were crowned champions at the competition final on Saturday in Bristol and will now have the opportunity to represent England on the global stage at international finals, which will be held in Greece, Brazil and the USA.
The science and technology challenge, which is aimed at 9-16-year-olds, tasks teams to build a robot to tackle a series of missions, and create an innovative solution to a real-world problem. This year’s CITY SHAPER Challenge, saw students learn all about architecture and the spaces we live in.
The winning team impressed the judges with their teamwork, dedication, and their ability to stay calm during difficult situations. They displayed how well they can work under pressure.
The team's solution is an innovative idea about a fire protection drone service designed to operate in high-rise buildings to make residents feel safer. For the team’s robot games, they designed a straightforward robot with one medium motor, two large motors and a variety of attachments. These attachments enabled them to complete numerous missions at a time.
Shapeshifters team member Ishika Jain, said: "The win was very surprising because we only got through to nationals through the Wild Card and we did so well at the end. I'm glad that our first time at nationals has given us this amazing experience and opportunity. I am also grateful for an amazing team who I know will always have my back."
Kendrick School computing teacher and Robot Club Team coach, Mr Hayes, and parent, Krishna Jain, said: "We couldn't be prouder of the students. They were extremely resilient throughout the competition - never giving up on hope, their robot and their team."
The runners-up were End_Tec, a team from Endon High School.
Lowri Walton, FIRST® LEGO® League IET Education Manager, said: “FIRST® LEGO® League allows young people to experience engineering in action. As well as bringing excitement to STEM subjects, the students get hands-on experience with robotics and designing innovative solutions to real-world problems.
There is a great need for young people with STEM skills to fill the next generation of engineering role and we are excited to see such bright young engineering minds in FIRST® LEGO® League.”
The event was the largest ever FIRST® LEGO® League Final with over 500 young people attending who were all keen to demonstrate their skills in robotics, computer programming, teamwork, research, problem solving and communication.
The IET is proud to be the FIRST® LEGO® League’s UK and Ireland operational partner. Supporting the competition is part of the IET’s commitment to show young people the benefits of careers within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
For more information about this year’s FIRST® LEGO® League competition, please visit https://education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes/
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CITY SHAPER England and Wales Final 2020
1st Place Champions’ Award - Shape Shifters, Kendrick School
2nd Place Champions’ Award - End_Tec, Endon High School
Outstanding Contribution by a Volunteer Award - Andrea Tanner
Coach Award - Mr Sheridan, Caldicot School
1st Place Core Values Award - Robi1kenobi, Cullercoats Primary School
2nd Place Core Values Award - Endr01d, Endon High School
1st Place Innovation Project Award - Tech HEds, North Wilts Home Educators
2nd Place Innovation Project Award - Egni, Ysgol Glan Clwyd
1st Place Robot Design Award - Black Thunder, Reading School
2nd Place Robot Design Award - Team Bergholt, East Bergholt High School
Judges Award 1 - Aquarius, Colchester Royal Grammar School
Judges Award 2 - Bricking It, Quest
Judges Award 3 - Team Atlantis, Austin Friars School
Judges Award 4 - Swamp Things, Aberdour School
1st Place Robot Performance Award - End_Tec, Endon High School
2nd Place Robot Performance Award - Mad Hatters, Ralph Allen School
HM Government Award for Insight into Learning - Dersi_Coders, Dersingham Primary School
University of the West of England Innovation Award - Philip the Great, St Robert of Newminster Catholic School
RS Future Engineers Award - Coundon Court Robotics, Coundon Court School
Bechtel Safety Award - Neatherd STEM, Neatherd High School
Robot Knockout Award - Team Atlantis, Austin Friars School
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Media enquiries to:
Rebecca Gillick
External Communications Manager
T: +44 (0)7725 498 129
E: rgillick@theiet.org
