Pupils from 23 teams went head to head in our 2023 RAF Robotics Competition grand finals in North Wales and South Wales!

The theme of this year’s competition was Green Machines, and pupils from across Wales were challenged to design and create a robot that could tackle climate change. In their teams, participants considered whether the robot could sort recycling, whether it could communicate and whether it was unique in its skills.

Participants were invited to work as groups on their prototype using any hardware or kits they had available to the, before designing a poster and a video for their prototypes that were be used as part of their pitch to the judges. The groups created display boards for their prototypes, pitched to a panel of expert judges from Technocamps and the RAF, and answered any follow-up questions. Then, there was a bit of robot rivalry in our live, unseen challenge where participants were given time to adapt their creations to complete a new task. There was also a chance to get stuck-in to some team-building and creative challenges set by the RAF throughout the day, such as paper aeroplane races.

The judges said, “The standard this year was incredibly high, making our job as judges quite tricky. There were some ideas that could truly make a difference to climate change issues, we were certainly in the presence of future leaders today!”

Teacher Jess Griffiths said, “The competition was a fantastic experience for our pupils, they got so much out of it. The problem solving skills they had to use throughout the day was invaluable and our pupils had so much joy after they had been struggling in the live challenges but then finally completed the mission. We cannot wait to enter this again next year!”

Pupil Tiana said, “The competition made us learn lots!”

Pupil Evie said, “The competition was tricky but we got there in the end I really enjoyed it.”

Thanks to all who took part and congratulations to the winning teams! Stay tuned to find out details about next year’s competition…

South Wales Winners
Primary winners: Llandogo Primary
Secondary winners: Gowerton Comprehensive School
Live Challenge winners: Archbisop McGrath
Live Challenge runners-up: Penyrheol Recycle Bots Mark 5
Primary runners-up: Llanrhidian Primary
Secondary runners-up: St Michael’s School

North Wales Winners
Overall winners: Green Machine, Ysgol Amlwch
Green Machine primary winners: Codwyr Cerrig
Green Machine secondary winners: KOAT, Ysgol Richard Gwyn
Live Challenge primary winners: Gwersyllt Robotics, Ysgol Gwersyllt
Live Challenge secondary winners: Magic Bin, Ysgol Richard Gwyn