Form IV pupil Carolyn Curry reports not he recent Transition Year LEGO Robotics competition.

Our Transition Year Computer Studies pupils recently took part in the First Lego League, an exciting tournament that combines engineering, coding, computational thinking, research, and teamwork. The class was divided into two teams, each designing an innovation project and competing in a LEGO robotics challenge.

This year’s innovation project theme focused on archaeology. Teams researched real-world problems connected to the past and developed creative engineering solutions. One group designed a dome-like structure to protect archaeological sites from weather damage, which could also function as a greenhouse to support regrowth at the site.

As part of their research, this team reached out to an expert at the Natural History Museum in London and received some fantastic feedback on their project. The second group went on to win first place in the innovation project category. They designed specialised glasses capable of scanning the ground for artefacts, helping to speed up and simplify excavations. All the pupils presented their ideas clearly, demonstrating creativity, strong research skills, and excellent problem-solving. It was fantastic to see one of our teams recognised with an award for their work.

For the LEGO robotics challenge, both teams designed, built, and programmed a LEGO robot to complete a series of missions on a themed challenge table. Over the past few months, pupils worked hard to develop control of their robots, using coding skills, computational thinking, and problem-solving under pressure. The aim was to complete as many as possible of the 15 missions within two and a half minutes. Both teams performed very well on the day, missing out on placing by only a small number of points.

The event took place at UCD. The programme is supported by Science Foundation Ireland and sponsored by companies such as Sage and Amazon, helping to inspire the next generation of innovators and engineers.