Perse pupil is building up to Lego League national final

The excitement is building for William (Year 7) ahead of taking part in the IET First Lego League national finals in Harrogate tomorrow (Saturday 20 April).

As a member of Cambridge Electronics & Robotics Club (CERC), William helped one of their teams – CERC Van Gogh – qualify from last month’s regional finals of the challenging Lego robotics competition in Ipswich.

William and his team-mates had to highlight their skills across a range of areas, including design and innovation, as well as putting their creation through its paces with a series of timed ‘robot run’ challenges.

He said: “There are different missions you have to do with your robot, such as pushing it forward or lifting a bar, and you must complete as many as possible in two minutes and 30 seconds.

“My favourite part is doing the robot runs and just seeing the robot in action, but you must practise a lot.

“For one run, it might take a few hours because you must keep testing the robot at the same time as making changes to the code to make it more effective.”

William’s 10-strong team only came together a few months ago, but they meet every Sunday to work on their project, as well as having online meetings two nights a week to discuss design and coding matters.

He said: “I’ve always loved Lego and even when I was six, I was building models that were meant for 12 years-plus, but doing Lego robotics has really helped me learn how to collaborate as part of a team.

“We are all around the same age and it’s the first time many of us have done anything like this, so it’s really encouraging that we’ve made it to the national finals and I’m looking forward to the experience.”