Student Robotics 2011 is over! After much hard work, hacking, and bodging, fifteen teams from thirteen UK schools across five counties, and two countries came together to pit their robotic creations in a titanic battle of wits.

Each team had to build a robot that could navigate a course littered with other robots and red beans cans which could be collected to gain points. Further points could be scored by completing sections of the course, and extra points were available to robots that made it over the ramp. The robots used a number of sensing mechanisms, from the provided vision system (which was impressively used for more than just looking forwards) to various implementations of distance sensors.

The day comprised a gruelling 32 match league stage provided seeding for the later knock-out stage that would determine the winners of Student Robotics 2011. Congratulations to all the competitors, whatever place achieved, we hope that you’ve all had fun & learnt something along the way.

Results

For full details on the awards, please see the rulebook.

Congratulations to the team from Bishop Wordsworth School for some impressively high scores, topping the list at 40 points in single match.

Media

For the first time the competition received real-time coverage from a live video feed and a twitter stream. We were also covered in a piece in the Southern Daily Echo, and ECS News among other places. Images from the event are available in the sr2011 group on Flickr.

The SR Team

There’s less than a week to go to the competition, and we’re as excited as we are busy preparing the biggest and best Student Robotics Competition to date.

The competition’s taking place at The Cube, Level 2, SUSU Building 42, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton. Here’s the schedule:

Day 1 - Saturday 9th April, Tinkering Day

This day is optional but it is highly recommended that you attend as there will be very little time for tinkering on the actual competition day.

Day 2 - Sunday 10th April, Competition Day

Competition matches last 3 minutes, with a new match starting every 7 minutes.

Please remember to bring your Media Consent Forms on this day, otherwise we reserve the right to refuse entry into the competition.

We look forward to seeing you there, good luck, and may the best robot win!

The SR Team

What happens when you take sixth formers, and let them loose with power tools? Sam Phippen tells us about his experiences with Student Robotics teams in his Bristol Ignite talk entitled Sixth Formers & Power Tools. Enjoy: