Robot sessions aim to inspire future engineers

A university hopes it has inspired some engineers of the future after showing dozens of schoolchildren how to build a robot from scratch.

The 80 students, aged from 14 to 18, took part in free robotics taster days at the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) in Hereford this week.

The university offers accelerated engineering and technology degrees and tasked the pupils with building and coding their robots.

"I've never done anything like this before and it's really interesting to see how it all comes together," Magnus, 15, said of the course.

"We've taken a bunch of bits and using the hints and instructions, we've been able to put the components in the right places and plug them all in."

With robotics not currently taught in schools, many of the teenagers taking part were new to some of the technology.

"They may have had no experience of coding or mechanical engineering or mechatronics or engineering at all," said NMITE chief executive James Newby.

"By the end of the day, they will have accomplished the building of a robot. That's pretty fantastic.

"This requires really foundational engineering, it requires mechanical engineering, it requires an understanding of electronics, of sensors and feedback and it of course requires software engineering and coding to drive the decision making that the machines have."

The taster days came amid planned changes to the school curriculum, proposed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham earlier this week, who wants schools in England to offer technical subjects to pupils from the age of 14.

The chief executive said the college saw their taster days as "an important way of starting that process".

Some of NMITE students were on hand on the days to offer help and support.

"I think it's a good idea to show them what it's like to do real hands-on stuff," Will Gough, a third year engineering student, said.

"University doesn't always have to be the traditional lecturer experience and it can be a lot more interactive and engaging."

Jasmine Smith, who is in her second year and leads a drone team at the college, said there were lots of "happy kids" at the end of the day.

"I never had anything like this growing up, so this is a really good opportunity for all the young children," she added.

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