News

Tuesday 29 April 2008

Robots ready?...Race!

Local school pupils are being challenged to design, build and race autonomous robots at a special one day event.  With a reputation as one of the leading providers of Electronics Education in the UK, Nottingham Trent University’s School of Education will be hosting 'Robot Racer 2008' on Friday 27 June at the Clifton Campus.

The competition is open to pupils aged 10 to 16. They will be required to create a robot that can race along a track and use sensors to fire table tennis balls and drop coins into target areas.  Each robot will be scored on its speed as well as accuracy in hitting the targets. 

Primary school pupils will make use of mechanical sensors in their robots, but secondary school participants will have to program single chip computers that will provide their robot with intelligence.  All the robots will have to be designed to be lightweight, be able to automatically sense the target zones, move freely in a straight line and incorporate cunning contraptions with which to fire the table tennis balls and drop coins.

Students from the School of Education's trainee teacher courses will be helping to facilitate the challenge along with teachers from the university's partner schools.  The relationships formed and ideas shared will aim to stimulate the teaching of 'Systems and Control' in the new National Curriculum.

Andy Cooper, senior lecturer from Nottingham Trent University’s School of Education, and organiser of the event, said:  "Robot Racer is a worthy challenge for any young future engineer to take on. We're expecting a great day with plenty of fun and excitement for the youngsters taking part, all of whom will learn more about robotics and hopefully leave thinking about a future career in Engineering."

ENDS

Notes for editors:

Nottingham Trent University’s School of Education has partnered with the Nottingham Education Business Alliance and now acts as a regional hub for their Electronics in Schools strategy whilst running courses for practising teachers.

Press enquiries please contact: Matt Wallace, Press Officer, on telephone: +44 (0)115 848 8785, or via email: matthew.wallace@ntu.ac.uk; or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on telephone: +44 (0)115 848 8774, or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk.