King's College London

Nearly 100 schoolgirls from across Greater London descended upon King’s yesterday for the finale of the second ever Girls Robotics Challenge, held by the Departments of Engineering and Informatics.

Open to girls between the ages of 12 and 15 from disadvantaged areas of the capital, the challenge is a six-month long programme that pairs students with undergraduate and postgraduate mentors to design and build their own robot – getting hands-on with the basics of engineering and robotics in the process.

In addition to giving the students an opportunity to explore these subjects in a welcoming environment where creativity is rewarded, the project helps tackle the STEM gender imbalance and create a space where young women can confidently see themselves in the field.

Building on last year’s inaugural challenge and with the help of sponsors Google UK, the Royal Academy of Engineering and Micro:bit Educational Foundation, the girls applied what they had learned to a series of space-themed challenges to wrap up their robotics journey.

Robots’ autonomous driving skills were tested on the surface of an unknown planet, and hand-designed scoops, shovels and pickers scrambled to pick up space rocks for further analysis as an assembled crowd of fellow students, teachers and King’s academics cheered on.

The team’s performance, as well as the design journals they had been keeping to record their progress over the six months, formed the basis for which team would be crowned winner by a panel of expert judges. Engineering’s Dr Naseem Ramli joined Eneni Bambara-Abban, multi-award-winning robotics engineer and This is Engineering ambassador, Lucy Gill, Head of Product at Micro:bit Educational Foundation, and STEM ambassador Catherine Baulamon to judge.

Reflecting on his time assisting the teams, Dr Gerard Canal from the Department of Informatics said, “As it stands, only 1 in 4 STEM graduates being female or non-binary. Activities like this are vital to provide a window into STEM for people who may otherwise feel like they don’t belong, breaking down the boys’ club image that STEM might have.

“Teamwork, resilience and confidence are the foundations of work done at a university level, and it is so wonderful to see teachers here, giving up their time because they believe in what this project is trying to do.”

Before the winner was chosen, Eneni Bambara-Abban gave a lecture on her own unorthodox entry into engineering, writing to the Dean of the University of the West of England after missing her grades. She spoke about the need for passion in the field and how innovation stems from different perspectives at the discussion table, whether that be women and girls or those who are neurodiverse.

While all eleven schools developed fantastically creative robots, Harris Academy Wimbledon was awarded the gold for their rainbow-inspired bot with its unique scooping shovel.

Commenting on the impact of the event, organiser Dr Kathryn Boast said “Six months ago these girls couldn’t code, now they’re picking up rocks from the surface of the moon – you can’t just do that in a day. It has been really exciting to bring so many people together to celebrate their achievements over the last six months.

“It is so important for girls to know there is a space for them in STEM and to give them the chance to find their community. I hope that events like this will continue to show them the kind of opportunities their future might hold.”

In the future, the team hopes that the programme will continue to grow to offer more students from more disadvantaged backgrounds a hands-on window into STEM.