On Thursday and Friday last, 5th class from Scoil Mhuire na Trocaire, Buttevant, participated in the VEX Robotics IQ Challenge. This competition was sponsored and organised by EMC and the Lifetime Lab, Cork. It took place in the Nexus Centre in CIT.
Although the competition was held last week, the real work began last September when our class received a plastic box full to the brim of robot components.
It was then up to the class to design and make a robot suitable for the challenges we would have to compete in. Many hours, including lunch breaks, went into building ‘Robbie’ our robot. An engineering notebook also had to be compiled which documented the various stages of the build.
Once he was built, we then had to programme him so that he would work wirelessly and also on autopilot.
Along with building a robot, the class also had to do a science based project. As this year is the centenary of 1916, we decided to look at the important contributions made by Irish people in the area of science. Once the project was completed, we then had to put together a 4 minute presentation based on our findings.
All in all, 5th class, along with class teacher Claire Kelleher and resource teacher Cora Nash, put a huge amount of work into this fantastic initiative.
Plans are already in place for our entry to next year’s competition, and pupils are even eager to try out new robot designs for next year!