A team of six Year 6 students from Heywood Prep in Corsham recently competed in the Regional First Lego League championships held in Bristol. ‘The Cargonauts’ designed, built and coded a Lego robot to complete numerous missions on a cargo themed field and had to work on an innovation project, to solve a real-world problem associated with the transportation of goods globally.
The pupils’ solution was to revolutionise the shipping industry by using alternative materials and developing an original, nesting design for shipping containers. The pupils presented to panels of judges and other teams of children aged 9 – 16 and shared their 3D printed prototypes.
The children were fantastic on the day, unfazed by the pressure and impressed the judges as they embodied the core values of Heywood Prep: Curiosity, Determination and Respect. The team scooped first place in the innovation prize as well as the ‘Champion’s Award’, earning them a place to compete in the National finals later on this month. Good luck to them as they continue to develop their solution and fine tune their robot to compete against the best in the country.
“The children did an excellent job of finding creative solutions to real problems facing shipping,” said Heywood Prep’s Head of STEAM, Mrs Camilla Evans. “They presented their findings from a range of sources, including talking to experts at Bristol port. Their lessons using the engineering design process have translated into a great success for the team.”