Students from Scoil Mhuire, Broadford, Co Limerick wrestled their way to victory at the 8th Annual Analog Devices Primary School Robotics competition which took place in Limerick this weekend. The day-long STEM-inspired challenge, organised by Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI), saw over 120 primary school children go to battle with their self-designed sumo wrestling robots.
Teams of children between the ages of 10 and 12 from 32 schools across Limerick City and County gathered at the ADI campus in Raheen, Limerick early on Saturday morning. They worked towards building and programming their own robots before entering the ring and pitting their robotic creations against each other, sumo-style, that afternoon in a series of knock-out rounds. Family and friends cheered on the children during the tense and exciting play-offs where points were awarded for teamwork as well as design and innovation. At the end of the showdown, the team with the highest points was crowned the overall winners.
Grace Burton, Sadhbh Magnier and CJ Enright from Scoil Mhuire, Broadford, Co Limerick won the overall competition and Cian Flanagan, Caelan Tan, David Cronin and Aiden Danagher from Scoil Fhionáin, Kilfinane, Co LImerick were runners up. Students from Scoil Mhuire previously won the competition in 2019.
The robotics competition was established by ADI to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) amongst primary school students by giving them a flavour of engineering through the opportunity to design, build, test and program their own robots. The children were encouraged to work as part of a team, express creativity, problem solve and have fun while also learning key STEM principles.
Announcing the winners, Bernard Stenson, Director, Process Development Engineering at ADI, said, “Through our education outreach programmes, we hope to inspire the next generation of innovators. The primary school robotics program is one our most popular programmes and it’s easy to see why. Today, we saw children work together as a team to engineer solutions. That is quite remarkable. Congratulations to the winners as well as everyone who took part, their enthusiasm was infectious. The skills demonstrated by the winning team today are exactly what future employers will seek out – great initiative, teamwork, problem-solving and creativity. I wish them well in the future.”
Ann O’Sullivan, Director, Process Development & Resilience at ADI added, “Access to STEM Education is very important to ADI. Through the primary school robotics programme, students from all backgrounds get access to the fundamentals of robotic design and high-quality STEM education. We were delighted to work together with LearnIt to encourage children to embrace their curiosity and problem-solving skills in a truly fun environment.”
Now in its eight year, more than 6,000 students across Limerick city and country have participated in the Analog Devices Primary School Robotics Competition.
The first stage of the competition started months in advance when ADI opened registration to all primary schools with more than 120 pupils in the Limerick city/county region. Each school that registered received a free Robotics workshop where fifth and sixth class students learned to build and program a robot. After building their robot in the classroom, each team competed against each other for the chance to represent their school in the Analog Devices Primary Schools Robotics Final Competition.
Previous winners included Scoil Ide (2015), St Patrick’s Girls NS (2016), Our Lady Queen of Peace NS (2017), Killoughteen NS (2018), Scoil Mhuire Broadford (2019), St Patricks N.S Bruree (2020), as well as St Patrick’s National School, Dublin Road (2022).
List of Participating Primary Schools in the Competition:
Ahane NS
Caherconlish NS
Caherline NS
Castleconnell NS
Christ the Saviour NS, Ballingarry
Crecora NS
Donoughmore NS
Dromtrasna NS
Gaelscoil an Ráithín
Killoughteen NS
Knockea NS
Limerick East Educate Together NS
Lisnagry NS
Monagea NS
Monaleen NS
Murroe NS
Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Rosbrien
Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Janesboro
Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Roxborough
Scoil Fhionáin, Kilfinane
Scoil Íde, Corbally
Scoil Mháthair Dé, South Circular Road
Scoil Mhuire, Broadford
Scoil Mocheallóg, Kilmallock
Scoil Naomh Iósaf, Adare
St. Patrick’s BNS, Dublin Road
St. Patrick’s NS Bruree
St. Fergus’ NS, Glin
St. James’ NS, Cappagh
St. Joseph’s N.S., Ballybrown
St. Paul’s NS, Dooradoyle