Student Robotics 2022 was Kickstarted on Saturday on our livestream. It was great to see the excitement building for our first in-person competition since SR2019.

Our game this year, This Way Up, challenges teams to collect the most tin cans from the arena and ensure that they’re up the right way for maximum points. When in a team’s scoring zone, correctly oriented cans are worth 3 points, upside down cans are worth one point, and cans lying on their side are worth nothing. However, not all cans are created equal: Tin cans on the arena floor start upside down, but those on the raised platform in the centre are already the right way up, making them harder to get but easier to score points with. Our teams can detect a cans orientation with an insulating band along the bottom - how they choose to use this is up to them! Teams are scored at the end of the match for collecting the most points. Full details, including the prizes available this year, are available in the rulebook.

This year’s teams have already been strategising their approach, and we can’t wait to see their progress over the year!

If you weren’t able to attend Kickstart this year, or would like a recap, you can:

• watch our livestream where we explain the game and how this year’s competition will work.
• download the presentation in which we explain this year’s game and how the competition is running this year.
• download the microgames which are small activities designed to let you become familiar with the Student Robotics simulator.

We look forward to seeing your progress!

In this new blog series we’ll be catching up with some of Student Robotics ex-competitors to see what they are now up to and how competing in Student Robotics has helped them to get there.

This week we’ll be catching up with Becky, who is now a PhD Student at Sussex Uni. Becky competed in SR2015 and SR2016 as a part of team CLY from Collyer’s Sixth Form College.

How did you first get involved in Student Robotics?

My college had a Robotics club which I joined during my first year and we entered Student Robotics both years I was there. I helped with the mathematical parts of the code, as well as arguably the most important part of decorating the robot!

What are you doing now?

After completing my MSc in Maths, I am now doing a PhD in Maths at Sussex University. I am looking into batteries; what can we change to make them more effective, as well as epidemiology; how an infection will spread through groups of people and how long will the infection last.

How did Student Robotics help you get to where you are today?

Student Robotics has really helped me career wise, it’s a great talking point, especially during interviews. Being able to work on a real world engineering project with a deadline was a fantastic experience.

What was your favourite part about competing in Student Robotics?

It gave me a solid group of friends that I’m still in contact with and we had great fun designing and building a robot together. It was also very satisfying watching our creation come to life. Once I left college, I started volunteering for Student Robotics and it’s been just as fun and rewarding!

What advice would you give to yourself aged 16-18 knowing what you know now?

I wasn’t very confident when I was younger and I was very nervous about joining clubs and activities. I’ve never regretted any of the things I did end up taking part in so my advice would be to not be afraid to join anything that looks interesting!

Student Robotics is 100% free to enter and provides exciting real world engineering challenges for students aged 16-19. If you’re interested in taking part you can find out more on our Compete page. If your organisation is interested in sponsoring Student Robotics you can find all the information on our Sponsor page or reach out direct to fundraising@studentrobotics.org

We’re excited to announce that registration for the 2022 season of Student Robotics is now open!

This year we’re delighted to return to an in person event after a couple of years of virtual competitions due to COVID.

The competition cycle will start with a live streamed Kickstart event on 13th November at which the game will be announced and the competition introduced.

The competition, which will take place sometime roughly around April 2022, will see the robots compete through a league stage and a seeded knockout. As usual, the prizes will recognise not only the teams which come top in the knockouts, but also those who excel in other ways.

Details of the game and prizes will be revealed at Kickstart. Details of the Kickstart can be found on its event page and competition events will be published when they are available. We expect to confirm places before Kickstart.

If you would like a chance to compete in Student Robotics 2022, please fill in the entry form with the required information.

We look forward to seeing your teams!