Scoil Eoin reigned supreme at the UK VEX IQ Robotics Championships in Birmingham on March 11th. Having already won the Irish Finals comprehensively, our school received a special invite to compete at the U.K. Finals this week.
The Sixth Class boys won all three competitions on the day and also scooped the Design Award. Martin O’ Flaherty, Program Manager at EMC and VEX IQ Robotics leader, offered his congratulations to Scoil Eoin: “EMC is absolutely thrilled with Scoil Eoin’s success in the UK. Their camaraderie and ability shone through at last month’s national final, and the British judges clearly recognised their talents, too. The Scoil Eoin boys have bright futures as engineers and technologists ahead of them.” said Mr O’ Flaherty.
In the weeks since Scoil Eoin took top honours at the Irish Championships with “Jaws”, the Sixth Class pupils have worked tirelessly to redesign, modify and improve their robot, producing a new and improved model, “Jaws 2.0”, who not only pushes bricks into the scoring zone, but also the capacity to stack two or three high, providing the potential to double or triple the score for the team. The pupils had full control of design and programming this improved model. The innovative streamlined design resulted in a quick and deft robot, far better suited to the challenges than those of their fellow competitors. In fact “Jaws 2.0” proved quite the attraction in the arena at The Big Bang and created quite a buzz, with many admirers visiting the pit to view him and rival teams even tweeting about him!
During the inspection for the Design Award the judges questioned the boys intently about the functioning of the robot and also about their S.T.E.M. project, (Science, Engineering, Technology and Maths). Making special reference to how impressed they were with the boys’ research and knowledge, Scoil Eoin was honoured with the Design Award.
The Programming Competition presented a different challenge for the boys. In this challenge the boys needed to automate the actions of the robot in the absence of the drivers. To the boys delight they won this competition at their ease.
The Robotics Skills Competition involved high octane matches where the drivers were pitted against the clock, endeavouring to score as many points as possible in sixty seconds. Irish drivers, Shane and Keon showed great composure under immense pressure and Scoil Eoin once again came to the fore, winning the competition by almost twice the score of the second placed team.
The Teamwork Competition was a continuation of the Robotics skills. Paired with random schools, the boys were required to strategise and work together with the other team to maximise points on the arena. High placing on the score board was crucial.
After six gruelling rounds of matches in the qualifiers, Scoil Eoin climbed up the table, and qualified joint first! The tension was palpable as the teams were paired up once more and the knock outs commenced. After a supreme effort and amazing skill from the Irish drivers, the boys finished the Teamwork Competition with a top score, earning them their fourth award of the day!
An absolute triumph for Scoil Eoin! It was a truly fantastic experience for both the boys and teachers involved.
