Bournemouth Uni plays Ping Pong with Year 12 | Highcliffe School

Bournemouth Uni plays Ping Pong with Year 12

STEM Robotics Workshop hosted by a group of Student Ambassadors from Bournemouth University.


On the 25th February, many year 12 students who are currently studying STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) were invited to a Robotics Workshop hosted by a group of Student Ambassadors from Bournemouth University. In the morning we were given a robot that had been constructed out of Lego, a programmable remote control, and a laptop, and told we had to customise our little robot and then program it to play a game of Ping Pong.

Bearing in mind that the majority of us had never tried programming before, we all managed to figure out the software, making it move side-to-side, hit a ball, and even make it play music and sounds! After a few hours of tinkering with the software and experimenting with what the robots could do we had the opportunity to take control of our robots in a head to head battle against the other teams, but then came the finals... Tension built as the finalists made last minute repairs to their robots and added some final details and then everyone gathered round to watch the game. It was Felix Bradley against Rhys Pumphrey and after a full 5 minutes of intense ping pong Felix's robot had gained just one more point than Rhys', bringing Felix the victory - although Rhys claimed, 'it was fixed'.

Overall it was a very fun and educational day in which we had the opportunity to learn more about what programming involves, what university courses and career options are available to those who are interested in STEM subjects, and what is offered at Bournemouth University as we had the opportunity to talk to the Student Ambassadors throughout the day.
 


No prisoners were taken. With each beautifully-timed hit the ball flew across the desk, and with it leapt the hearts of every spectator who sat with baited breath, transfixed by the beautiful game. Twice it seemed the pressure had become too much for the little robots, before they spluttered back into life ready to return a particularly nasty shot in the nick of time. The clock ticked on as points racked up: one-nil, one-one, one-two, two-all, and all the while Felix and Rhys gripped their remotes, knuckles white, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads. The tension in the room mounted. With seconds to go, and the score locked at six-all, the tension in the room reached breaking point. Something had to give. Time seemed to pause for an instant as one final sweeping stroke from Felix sent the ball pelting towards Rhys’ robot… and straight past it.

If the umpire’s whistle blew in that instant, nobody could hear it over the tumultuous cheers of the crowds. His eyes glazed, Felix looked across the throng of ecstatic supporters. This was it, without question – ‘his finest hour’.

Report by Beth Allum & Eoin Burgin


    Owned by: VDN | Last Published: 08/03/2016 16:20:30 | Next Update: NA


In This Section

Download

Prospectus



Download