Last updated at 11:57, Friday, 20 January 2012

A team from an Aspatria school have won a Cumbria-wide design competition.

Ben Barton, left, and Jack Askew

The key stage 4 (KS4) group from Beacon Hill School in Aspatria took the prize at the Robotics Day at the Crosthwaite Centre in Keswick.

The team designed the winning robot to complete a slalom course, which incurred a time penalty if it deviated from its course. The intrepid robot also negotiated a seesaw and gravel trap with ease.

There were also challenges to be undertaken on the day itself including designing the fastest rollercoaster to move a golf ball using K’Nex kits – a type of plastic scaffolding. In the afternoon the teams had to design and build a bridge to span a metre-long gap and support a 1.5kg load.

KS4 beat off competition from Keswick School, Richard Rose Academy and Nelson Thomlinson School to win. Their design technology teacher, Peter Esslemont, said: “The event was the culmination of months of preparation and both the teams in KS4 and KS3 showed great control of their robots and set very fast time.

“Neither the seesaw nor gravel trap posed any problem and both teams were complimented on their speed and control. Although the juniors in KS3 did not win their category this year, they did very well and deserve congratulations too.”

The members of the triumphant KS4 team were 15-year-old Ben Barton and 16-year-old Jack Askew, as well as Adrian Scott who was off ill on the competition day, while the KS3 team was Lucy Shardlow, Andrew Charlton, Martin Bell and Liam Smith.

First published at 11:30, Friday, 20 January 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk