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A group of six Lower Sixth students have received Gold and Silver CREST Awards for their work on an extra-curricular STEM project. 

The students applied for the opportunity to work on the Engineering Experience Programme (EEP), which is a nationally recognised scheme that inspires young people to think and behave like scientists and engineers. They were tasked with designing an autonomous vehicle that could scan and detect road cracks and potholes to help improve the UK’s road infrastructure. The group affectionately named their robot ‘Chitti’ (after a Bollywood movie). 

David, Emily, Tara and Cheryl were awarded Silver for their efforts in the project, while Kristian and Ansh both went further and contributed more time, which was recognised with a Gold award. This project was a fantastic opportunity to develop team-work skills and experience of a STEM project, outside of the curriculum. 

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Ansh said, “Completing the EEP Project was fantastic. My role involved distributing tasks and ensuring we were on track but mainly creating the robot itself; ensuring the software and hardware were developed to allow the robot to manoeuvre and respond to its surroundings. 

While I had some experience with the software aspect, I had never worked with robotics, and this was an amazing opportunity to do so. It sparked an interest into robotics, and I now hope to study Robotics & AI at UCL for my higher education.  

Aside from learning to work with electronics and robotics, other skills I learnt included leadership and teamwork; communication with each other was key as well as project and time management; as there were so many elements to the project, it was a real push to ensure everything was complete. We had some lags which added some pressure, under which we thrived.  

While I completely focused on the robot, everyone took on responsibility over the other aspects; most notably Kristian coming in clutch and completing the entirety of the report in a week. We ended up very proud of all aspects of the project and it was the team as a whole that brought it together. We’d like to thank Mr Flanagan for offering the opportunity to us and a huge thank you to Dr Manchester who supported us throughout the project alongside our mentors, without their help we wouldn’t have done it.” 

Tara said, “I am incredibly grateful to have participated in the EEP and it provided me with invaluable transferable skills that will be useful in university and beyond.  

After attending a launch day at the STFC (a science complex in Oxfordshire) we were briefed about our project. Over the period of six months, we worked with our mentors (career professionals including a mechanical engineer and computer scientists) to bring our project to life.  

Working in a team of six, we delegated tasks separating our project into the design, construction, and coding of the robot. During the process we also received masterclasses from the EEP for the final presentation, scientific report, and poster we would create to share our project with other schools at the celebration day.  

After weeks of hard work and team meetings, it was rewarding to see our efforts culminate in the final presentation. However, the highlight would have to be the tour of the STFC where we sat in an autonomous taxi and saw some of the experimental machinery!” 


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