Wolverhampton youth team progresses to world’s largest robotics competition’s UK championship
Perton Middle School’s robotics team was crowned Winning Alliance Captain at FIRST Tech Challenge UK’s regional qualifying tournament at Aston University Engineering Academy on 12 March. Winning this award qualifies them for a spot at the More Than Robots UK Championship at the London Copper Box Arena in June.
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As Winning Alliance Captain, team Snapwire from Perton Middle School led their alliance with another local team to victory, with their robots forming the strongest performing duo. They’ll now progress to the More Than Robots UK Championship, competing against 47 other UK teams and 16 international teams.
The event took place during British Science Week, with ten teams from across the region, aged 12-18, coming together to showcase their engineering and coding skills.
This year’s game, INTO THE DEEP, presented by RTX, challenged teams to design, build and code robots for a water-themed game. During two-and-a-half-minute matches, teams navigate their robots through complex tasks, combining autonomous and driver-controlled operation.
“The teams’ incredible creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills truly demonstrate what it takes to succeed in STEM and their futures. Not only have they risen to the challenge, but they’ve also reminded us all that teamwork and collaboration are what’s needed to tackle tomorrow’s biggest challenges. A huge congratulations to all teams for being true representations of their region. We’ll see some again at the UK Championship and others back even stronger next year!” shared Patrice John-Baptiste, Head of Impact and Engagement at FIRST UK.
FIRST Tech Challenge UK empowers young people aged 12-18 with the technical knowledge and soft skills to thrive in STEM and beyond. From September to March, working like teams in industry and often supported by a mentor, they design, build and program a robot to compete at progressive events. Teams hone new skills such as communication, teamwork, programming, project management, fundraising, design and engineering.
The programme is run by charity, FIRST UK, which aims to make STEM less intimidating, more diverse and inclusive. Supported by Arm, XTX Markets, RTX, Gene Haas Foundation, Bloomberg, Salesforce and Qualcomm, the charity is part of the global FIRST movement established in 1989, which reaches 650,000 young people worldwide each year.
