Robotics - End of Term Update

Primary Robotics

Sessions of the primary robotics began in earnest just before Christmas with sixteen year 6 students from Roselands taking on this year’s challenge – “Rapid Relay”. The challenge this year is to score as many soft 8” balls into as many of the four goals as possible in a one-minute time slot. A new layer to the challenge this year is that students need to return the ball to the start position after each goal by carrying, throwing or propelling the ball to their team mate as quickly as possible before another goal is attempted. The robots also gain points by “passing” the ball to each other with goals scored by the robots being multiplied for each goal successfully completed.

As complete newcomers to the robotics program, students always begin with the basics and learning how to code with the VEX IQ system. This is a fundamental piece of knowledge which expands on students’ knowledge as well as introducing programming concepts such as forever loops, if statements and how these can be integrated with a physical platform. Simple four wheeled robots become adorned with multiple sensors capable of detecting light, colour and sound with students soon able to get their robots drawing complex shapes and avoiding objects.

With the coding completed, students are then let loose to build their own chassis to house the drive system of their chosen design. It isn’t an easy task for year six students to build a structure capable of supporting motors, wheels and any other device used for manipulation! After a few setbacks and frustration, the students had created four capable systems and organised themselves in to four teams, ready for the challenge ahead.

Subsequent sessions saw rapid progress with each team opting for very similar catapult designs, utilising a winch mechanism that they had previously been shown. The successes and failures were probably equal along this phase but the resilience of the group grew proportionally with each completed section of the robots. In barely any time at all, all four teams had built functioning robots ready to take on other schools.

The day got off to a lumpy start due to some technical hitches which were soon ironed out and the competition proceeded with qualification matches. At this point, most of the teams had not driven their robot competitively, so the initial round saw some quick learning from the participants. With just four opportunities to set a score, the early matches were very important to the students as their overall score would be reflected by the top three scores averaged out (each team gets to drop their lowest score). One of the wonderful things about the competition day is the scheduling which allows teams to partner across different schools, enabling them to liaise with different backgrounds and age groups but this did not deter any of them from giving 100%.

By the end of three rounds, I am very pleased to say that three of the four Roselands teams filled the top three qualification rankings, with the fourth team suffering a catastrophic drive off the table which demolished their robot for a time. Resilience and perseverance kicked in, and they were able to rebuild in time for their final match. Proving that practice makes perfect, Roselands B team improved consistently throughout the day and in the penultimate match, scored a huge 21 points! This was enough to put them into first place but also bumped Bedford Academy A team up to second, splitting the Roseland teams.

Unlike the High school alliance selection, which can be very political, the teams here are automatically sorted into rank and paired off, the lowest teams having a final round first of all and then subsequent teams until they have all posted a final score. At this point, all scores are equal and whatever gets posted as a score denotes the final ranking and the eventual winner. Eight alliances got to go again and the early score from the bottom ranked alliance was just 6 points, a seemingly low score but with nerves getting the better of all the teams, only two higher ranked alliances managed to match this leaving just the top rank team to play. With the pressure mounting, mistakes were being made and with just seconds to go, Roselands B finally got the ball into the goal for the seventh time, beating the previous score by just one! Given their previous high score of 21, it highlighted just how tough it is when an entire hall is watching the match unfold.

In an act of pure kindness, as the Roseland B team were awarded the winner’s trophy alongside Bedford A team, they turned to their fellow Roseland students and invited them up on top the stage so that they could all celebrate together. This display of comradery really highlighted the bond created through the adversity to building, programming and competing in the Robotics challenge.

*In the qualification matches Roselands ranked 1,3,5 and 12 ranking them Top seed, second seed, third seed and sixth seed respectively. Roslands then posted the highest score in the final round to win the title with Roselands A in second place and Roselands C and D in 5th and 6th place.

**St Edmunds College B failed to post a final match score due to an imbalance in the number of alliance partners.

Interactions from the final’s day hosted by St Edmunds College. Lots of engagement, hard work and finally a celebration!

Secondary Robotics

On Tuesday 4 February, The John Warner school hosted the annual MBD.A “Robot Rumble” competition which pitted 12 local schools from across Hertfordshire against each other in this year’s VEX game – “High Stakes”. In this year’s event, the teams had just 12 weeks to design and build a functioning robot which would fit within and 18” cube and use no more than 6 motors to manipulate as many coloured rings on to scoring stakes as they could in two minutes. Part of the challenge is to code the robot to run autonomously for 15 seconds at the beginning of each match as well as a 1-minute run independent from the main competition.

Our entry for this year was a bespoke design that utilised several rubber wheel rollers to intake up to two rings. The rollers being mounted on a swing arm allowed the rings to be raised to the height of a stake and then deposited onto the scoring object. Initially the team found the co-ordination required to both lift, operate the intake and move the robot to be very cumbersome so they used a clever piece of coding to automate the scoring at the press of a single button. This innovation made scoring a much simpler task and cut scoring time by about 60%. Coupled with a high scoring autonomous phase, the students found that they were top of the table for most of the qualification event.

The team for this year consisted of five engineering students from year 10 – Harry, Jouse, Marvin, Mason and Haseeb.

As the competition is designed to be inclusive, the qualification phase is completed as a round robin of teams competing both alongside and against each other in a two versus two situations. The luck of the draw dictates how good your alliance partner is based on their strengths, weaknesses and how or if they complement your own robot. Having a tough and reliable robot was a major advantage as it was often the case that even with a weaker partner, the John Warner team robot was still able to amass enough points to win the matches!

Over the course of the competition, the teams can accumulate points by winning a match (2 points) drawing a match (1 point) and also gain a bonus WP by completing a set task – an achievement to team managed once during their day. In the event of win points being equal, teams are then ranked by how many times they have won the autonomous round followed by schedule points which is designed to demonstrate how difficult a run teams have had against the top ranked teams.

The team also won the innovate award for truly unique robot, came joint top of the autonomous skills award and won the tournament champions trophy. There excellent performance qualifies them for the UK national final, the biggest robotics event in the UK!

A big thank you to Dennis, Jessica and Artun for helping out with refereeing on the day alongside the mentors and personnel from MBD.A Stevenage who provided all the robotic parts, judging the logbooks expertise and time with the teams sorting technical issues and suggesting ways forward.

The John Warner School – I Love Robots – VEX V5 Competition

It has become a tradition that the John Warner school runs a competitive robotics competition every year as close to valentine’s day as possible and calls this event the “I Love Robots” regional. The event is by invitation and is the chance for local schools to demonstrate their love for autonomous fun and to enjoy a welcoming and friendly environment.

This season, sixteen teams travelled from as far as Harrow, Berkhamsted, Bedford and even Bristol to the event on the 12 February to match their skills against one another. Using the same game set up as the MBD.A competition above, this time the level of competition was fierce with more motor power through 10 motors, pneumatics and an unlimited number of other parts so long as the robots started within the 18” restriction at the beginning of each match.

The event is set up by Mr Higham, Mr Bolton and Mrs D’Ath as teachers from the school but the running of the event always falls to students who have since left the school and have gone on to university, apprenticeships or work. This year Kieran, Siraj, Georgia and Jamie made sure that the teams were kept on schedule, had experts looking through their note books and that all decisions in the arena were fair and clear.

The schedule for the day allowed the teams nine opportunities to compete in the round robin, and at the end of the qualification period there was one outstanding team but two of the John Warner teams inside the top 5. Inevitably, the top two teams paired up and their dominance from the qualification rounds followed through to an overall victory in the knock outs final stage against an alliance of 3116C and 3110C two teams for The John Warner school.

Although it was disappointing to lose the final, the aim for the teams had not been the main knockouts but rather the focus had shifted to the skills matches. A separate competition where teams get to set two score, one through driving and one through a “hands off” autonomous period. Both sections last one minute and the scores are added together to give an overall ranking position. A number of teams had decided to focus on this element because qualification for the UK National final was to be decided on the teams who had rank highest nationally in the skills competition.

The benchmark for Nationals qualification was 24 points, three of the John Warner teams managed to beat this with 3116Z (Harry, Max, Tegan) in particular impressing with their autonomous runoff 16 points, propelling them past 282S who had been so dominant in the main competition. The reflective scores were enough to qualify all three teams to the National Final and with an added bonus of 3110C (Ethan Martin, TJ Dodd, Josh Magill) winning the Excellence award which also carries the reward of a National finals place and the opportunity to win UK national excellence and Jessica Nti winning the judges award in her first ever competition! 

VEX UK National Robotics Final

After a long season of regional events spread across the country, the final event of the season in the UK is always the National final. This year the competition was split into two categories, middle school for teams up to year 9 and high school for those in year 10 and above. I am delighted to say that all seven of our teams qualified through various means to make it to the biggest robotics competition in the UK, to compete against the top 72 teams (32 Middle school and 40 High school).

The team travelled up to Telford on Thursday allowing time to settle into the youth hostel in the picturesque countryside of Iron Bridghe, famous for the Engineering works of Thomas Telford and a fitting place for the finals of an engineering competition. Having the evening to prepare, students wasted no time setting up the portable competition field and testing their robots to ensure that they had not suffered on the journey up the M1 and M6. With all systems checked, the older students took the opportunity tom use their experience to help the younger teams set their robots up for the competition ahead and to offer some sound advice on what to expect.

The competition takes place across two days with all teams playing 12 matches in both the High school and Middle school divisions, so it is very important to make sure that batteries are charged and the robots are checked after every match for loose parts or broken pieces. With so many teams with us, Mr Bolton, Mrs D’Ath and Mr Higham were kept busy; not working on the robots but ensuring that the teams were well fed, watered and emotionally on point!

With driver briefing and the opening ceremony kicking off the event, it was a pleasant surprise for the team to pick up their first award with Mr Higham receiving the Event Partner of the Year, an award given for excellence and commitment to ensuring the growth of robotics in the UK and well-earned for the four events that had been organised across the season.

3110D 4th in a very close battle for the top spots, 3110C 9th using the limited kit provided by MBDA, 3116G 14th having been temporarily top before suffering some malfunctions, and 3116X 26th in their first nation final.

Founder's Scholars

In January, three of our Year 12 engineers were confirmed as this year’s recipients of the Worshipful Company of Founders scholarship award. To gain the award they had to apply to the Founders via letter, detailing why they felt that they should be awarded the scholarship with reference to their qualifications, interests and achievements. Successful applicants were then invited to an interview where they were asked a series of gruelling questions about their ambitions. Upon receiving the scholarship, the students were able to attend the founders Hall and meet the wonderful Founders. These students will each receive £400 per term over five terms to help them study and to further their academic career in Engineering. As part of their scholarship, the students will be invited to visit Founders Hall for the Warner lecture as well as other Founders events that run throughout the year and will be able to join the company as Artisans when they reach 18 years. They will also be participating with the Industrial Cadets team as mentors. Congratulations to Jack, Ethan and Harrison.

In addition to the above, Siraj Hamdan, a past student at The John Warner School who studied Engineering and had previously earned the Scholarship, has now applied and is being considered for an Artisan.

Industrial Cadets

GSK industrial cadets began on Tuesday 11 March and will run for 12 weeks. Industrial cadets is an opportunity that has been offered to Year 8 students to complete a STEM based investigation into a topic of their choosing. Seven students (four girls and three boys) have opted to design a roller coaster of the future based on the principles of sustainability. So far, they have researched different roller coaster concepts including the advantage and disadvantages of a physical roller coaster versus an online or virtual roller coaster. Some of the team have even begun looking at how the coaster can be promoted and the materials that would be needed to produce the packaging needed for snacks and souvenirs!

The team consists of Isabella, Olivia, Eseosa, Yaren, George, Cem and Madox and they are working in three sub-groups investigating the materials and cost of a physical coaster, the possibilities for disabled people to ride a virtual coaster and how materials can be developed that are both sustainable and recyclable. One of the key elements that they are looking in to is if a theme park ride could be entirely powered by renewable energy source, preferably wind power through the use of small turbines.

In addition to these students, the following Year 12 will be their student mentors as part of their Engineering fellowship with The Founders Company: Jack, Harrison and Ethan. The scholars in in charge of scheduling meetings, checking on the students' progress and giving them ideas about how they can progress their investigation.

The project will conclude with a visit to GSK Ware with a tour of the facilities and an awards ceremony for the participating students. To gain the Bronze award, they will be expected to present their investigation in the form of a written report, a physical product and a 20-minute presentation in front of a panel of GSK managers.

The students are also supported by two GSK apprentices who have been explaining to our students the benefits and differences between graduate programs and apprenticeship programmes.

Future plans

Rotary Technology competition, June 21;

An annual competition hosted by the Rotary club of Hoddesdon which asks students to design and manufacture a simple solution to a brief given on the day. The event promotes teamwork and manufacturing skills alongside the opportunity to discuss design ideas with a team of judges who are volunteers from the local Rotary clubs.

Raytheon Quadcopter challenge, applications open:

Learning to build and fly small drones in a team of up to eight students. Teams are asked to develop a drone with a purpose, such as mountain rescue, and to enter three stages of design, fly and present. Winners of the local regional event will; move forward to the National final, hosted by the RAF.

VEX UK event partner summit, June:

A meeting of regional leads in robotics to plan and discuss how events can be improved and developed to be as inclusive as possible. Delegated will discuss key issues such as bringing more comprehensive schools to events, encouraging higher success rates with comprehensive schools and ensuring equal gender and equity goals are met.