STEM – Lego League

Today a number of our Year 11&12 STEM club students went to W5 in the SSE Arena. The two teams made up the 19 strong field competing against each other, and the clock, to win the Lego Challenges.

Today a number of our Year 11&12 STEM club students went to W5 in the SSE Arena. The two teams made up the 19 strong field competing against each other, and the clock, to win the Lego Challenges.

Challenge 1 – The Mat Challenge

Here the students bring their prebuilt Lego robots which they have created and programmed in school prior to the competition and use them to complete as many of the 17 mat challenges within the allocated 2.5 minute time period. They have three attempts at this task with the best scores ranked on a score board.

Challenge 2 – The Robot Designs

This is an opportunity for the teams to share how and why they have built and developed their robots in the way in which they did, this happens through a presentation to a panel of experts, and is followed up with a question and answer session.

Challenge 3 – Innovation Project

This years theme was ‘superpowered’ and as a result the teams shared with the judges how they had researched and developed an idea relating to the theme of superpowered energy

Challenge 4 – Q&A on the First Lego Leagues core skills

And last but by no means least, a Q&A on the First Lego Leagues Core Skills; discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun.

Both BA teams were a credit to the school and performed outstandingly well across all four tasks, showcasing their enthusiasm, knowledge, hard work and great Ballymena team spirit.

Congratulations to everyone who participated, with a very special congratulations to our Year 11 winners, Callum Baillie, Kara Gamble, Daniel Hickey, Tommy Lackermerier, Niall Manson, Sam McClintock, Olivia Moody, Ashton Mui and Taylor Stewart, who topped off this fantastic day of fun competition by being crowned the overall regional champions!!

We would like to send a massive thank you to Dr Bulent Tepe from Caterpillar and Professor Tom Moody from Almac for their time, support, and encouragement to the teams for helping with preparation in the run up to the competition. Thanks also to W5, Elaine Steele and all the staff and volunteers who made today happen, and Mr McGuickan for joining us and helping at the event.

Finally the very best of luck to our Year 11 2023 First Lego League champions, Callum Baillie, Kara Gamble, Daniel Hickey, Tommy Lackermerier, Niall Manson, Sam McClintock, Olivia Moody, Ashton Mui and Taylor Stewart who will now represent Northern Ireland at the all Ireland finals, set to be held in Dublin later this month.