Reach Out Lab hosts student robotic challenge

Home-schooled students from around London were given the chance to carry out practical experiments at the College's Reach Out Lab recently.

Home-schooled students from around London were given the chance to carry out practical experiments at the College’s Reach Out Lab recently.

Around 30 children aged between 9 and 13 years, accompanied by a number of parents, listened to a talk about engineering and robotics by session leader Richard Palfrey and were challenged to think about what defines a robot.

They then formed groups and took part in a practical task to programme Boe-Bots – small, autonomous mobile robots – to perform simple navigation tasks.

The students later put their newfound programming skills to the test by trying to get one of the Boe-Bots to navigate an elaborate maze.

One of the student’s parents, Arif Saleem – an Imperial College alumnus himself (Information Systems Engineering) – said that visiting the Reach Out Lab was a fantastic opportunity to put into practice what the students had been learning about at home.

“My child is just beginning to understand what university is and so coming to Imperial is a great opportunity, and I think that they really get a sense of the exciting things that happen here and the scale of it. It’s something to aspire to," said Saleem.

Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society at the College, stopped by the Reach Out Lab to give encouragement to the students as they were tackling the maze challenge.

He emphasised the importance of applying maths skills to practical and contemporary problems such as programming at an early stage in education.

Commenting on the day, Alan West MBE, Director of the Reach Out Lab, said: “One student did complete the maze to the absolute delight of the whole group – it created a spontaneous cheer and a room full of smiling faces. This is absolutely part of what the Reach Out Lab is about: creating fulfilling STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] experiences that motivate and hopefully inspire them for the future.”