Limerick School Comes Out on Top in Robot Wars

St Gerald’s College, Castlebar were denied their third win in a row as Villiers School, Limerick were crowned overall winners at the EA Robot Games yesterday.

Over 500 secondary school students from across Ireland took part in the competition which pits rival robots against one another in a sumo battle.

175 robots entered the competition in Dublin Castle, however, only one remained standing at the end of the day. Villiers School’s ‘Coretex’ came out victorious against St. Gerald’s aptly named ‘The Wall’. This is the first time the team from Villiers School has won the competition, stopping St. Gerald’s in their tracks for a third winning year in a row.

James Browne, one of the teachers from Villiers School helped the team build their winning robot from scratch expressed how important competition can be in helping students get involved in projects such as this.

“Each year we really look forward to taking part in the EA Robot Games competition. I think competition is a great way for our students to experience designing, manufacturing and programming robots at the cold face”

The competition was part of the Excited 2016 initiative, Ireland’s only Digital Learning Festival. It aims to showcase innovation in Irish education by bringing together teachers, students, academics and industry leaders. The Festival came to an end yesterday and featured over 1,200 participants in Dublin Castle.

Taoiseach, Enda Kenny congratulated the festival supporters and even had a few words for those involved:

“Over the last number of years I have seen the good work being done by Excited in developing our young people’s digital skills and empowering them to learn independently. The Excited Digital Learning Festival is a wonderful celebration of the talent and commitment to excellence of our teachers and students.”

If you would like to find out more about Excited you can check out their website here
Or if you're interested in robotics take a look at Robotics Ireland