CrumbleBot Robotics Improvers' Day

On Tuesday 6 February 14 of our Year 5 girls participated in a ‘CrumbleBot Robotics Improvers' Day' at Horringer Court Middle School in Bury St Edmunds. This was the second stage of the ‘RoboCupJunior Line Tracking Primary Championship’, which culminates in a Grand Final in June.

The morning consisted of a series of workshop sessions during which the girls learnt how to use analogue ultrasonic and light sensors, as well as digital monochrome sensors, variables and ‘nested’ conditional programming statements. The teams then had approximately one hour to program their robots to compete in a ‘robot relay’ against the clock. Five separate robots had to be programmed to follow light beams from moving torches, follow complex lines marked out on the floor, and navigate through a maze without bumping into the walls. Each stage of the relay was individually timed, and penalties were awarded where necessary: all combined to give an overall relay time.

Many congratulations to our Year 5 team – the girls finished in first place with an overall time a clear 50 seconds (42%) faster than that of any other team! We are now looking forward to the Grand Final in June.