Peterborough schools triumph in LEGO robot competition with Longthorpe pupils off to finals

Six teams of Peterborough primary school children have competed in a range of LEGO robotics-themed challenges.

Longthorpe Primary School were crowned overall champions of the Peterborough tournament, securing a place in the national finals, which will be hosted by the IET next month in Harrogate.

Following months of preparation, student teams battled against each other with LEGO robots which they had designed, built and programmed to autonomously complete as many missions as possible on a LEGO playing field, all within the 2.5 minutes.

Teams were also tasked with presenting their project to a panel of judges on March 21, which, this year, involved identifying a problem tackling energy storage and consumption.

Students were assessed on their strategy and computer science skills that were behind their robot’s design.

Great Staughton Primary School took home the Robot Design prize.

Elton Church of England Primary School took home to Robot Performance award.

Kimbolton Primary Academy triumphed in the Innovation Project category, for which they had developed a solution to storing and transferring energy.

Ian Moverley, director of UK communications at Whirlpool, who held the competition, said: “We’ve been proud to fully fund the Peterborough tournament for the last four years, and long may that continue.

“It has been a pleasure to see the innovation and enthusiasm expressed by the younger students.

“We have been extremely impressed by their programming skills and creative ideas when solving the problem of energy in today’s world.”