Over 550 schools to take on robotic environment challenge

As part of the Challenge, the students will build a Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 robot and program it to perform a set of environmentally themed tasks such as planting a tree. Teams will also present ideas regarding how engineers can help future-proof the world.

Now in its fifth year, the Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge encourages young people to apply coding and teamwork skills to a variety of real-life tasks. The competition aims to help students discover exciting new careers and assist schools in achieving some of their Gatsby benchmarks around career guidance. As well as students, teachers can also benefit from taking part in the Challenge and are supported through professional development training days and online mentoring by EngineeringUK.

“We’ve seen young people around the world coming together to demand action over climate change,” said Dr Hilary Leevers, CEO of EngineeringUK. “The next generation can be part of the solution by choosing engineering careers that will be central to generating affordable and sustainable energy, and to solving other global challenges that they care about, like access to clean water and sanitation. We need creative thinkers with a range of skills and perspectives working together to secure our future.

“The new environmental challenge was chosen for the Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge to address an issue that many of us are passionate about and inspire students as they discover exciting new skills and careers in engineering, technology, robotics and computing.”

EngineeringUK predicts that the current high demand for STEM skills will continue to rise in the future, with the UK requiring tens of thousands more engineers annually.

“Communicating the breadth and variety of engineering careers to young people is vital for the future of the UK economy, if the engineering community is to keep inspiring the next generation of engineers,” added Dr Leevers.

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