On Friday 28 May 2021, Y9 pupils Maya and Agastya took part in the first-ever live remote final of the Vex Robotics World Championship, coming 654th out of 1,584 Vex IQ teams from around the world.
Maya and Agastya, the ‘Plasmatic Protons’, took part in several live challenges, connecting via video call with the tournament in America, to demonstrate their driving (using a controller) and programming (coding) skills. The challenges were broadcast live on Instagram, giving some sense of audience and occasion to the event, in the absence of being able to travel to compete in person.
Maya said “We are in the Worlds and that was pretty cool, I still can’t believe that”. Agastya added “next year we will be using sensors and focusing more on driving”.
Ms Crivellari Rivas, Teacher of Design Technology Engineering at Highgate said: “I am so happy about Maya and Agastya making it into VEX World Championship! They have worked extremely hard all year, especially having to deal with Covid and for them to have qualified for the world championships is a massive accomplishment itself!”
Maya and Agastya are keen members of the Highgate Robotics Club and last year qualified for the UK National Championship for VEX Robotics, winning the competition’s Energy Award. They have worked incredibly hard over the last year, preparing for this competition.
During their research, they independently reached out to Professor Ozanyan from University of Manchester, Science and Engineering, to discuss sensor technology. Their subsequent research project ‘Can Sensors Make us Superhuman’ ranked in the 15 STEM Vex IQ middle school research projects in the world, clinching their place in the World Championship.
