b'10 Member News July 2022The future of engineeringCombat Wombats win theIET FIRST LEGO League Final This year we welcomed back our highly anticipated IET FIRSTLEGO League England and Wales Finals after two years, following the Covid-19 pandemic. The finals of the competition, held intheir weekly after school Harrogate, UK, saw over 1,200 youngclub. I am very proud of people, spectators, team coaches and VIPsthe way this very young attend. On the day, 64 teams participatedteam performed at both but taking the overall winners title was athe regional heats and the team of 10 budding engineers from Bath,national final, showcasing Somerset, dubbed the Combat Wombats. their skills among the many other strong teams Hans, Combat Wombat team taking part, said Clive member, said: Seager, Combat Wombats team coach.The Combat Wombats at the England and Wales Final in Harrogate, UKThe winning team was one of the two The day was amazing, and we hadteams from Freshford Church Schools inFIRST LEGO League allows young such fun. We still cant believeBath and made up of boys and girls agedpeople to experience engineering we won the whole competitionnine to 10 years. The Combat Wombatsin action by getting hands-on went to represent England on the globalexperience with robotics and against so many teams!stage at the FIRST LEGO Leaguedesigning innovative solutions to World Festival in Houston, US, in April.real-world problems while also Here, coach Clive won the title of bestshowcasing how creative and coach in the world! innovative a career in STEM can beFor the STEM (science, technology,On winning, he said: The most moving partand having great fun while doing so!engineering and maths) challenge, teamswas the teams reaction and the parents had to build a robot to tackle a series ofkind words.missions and create an innovative solutionClive was nominated for coaching the to a real-world problem. This yearsCombat Wombats since the teamcompetition was called Cargo Connectwere five, always going above and beyond and was designed to explore how cargo isto support and encourage them and giving transported to different destinations aroundup so much of his free time to coach them.the world and how they can find a solution to make transporting cargo more efficient.The teams success, fromThe Combat Wombats winning solutiontheir weekly LEGO club was an innovative idea of a kerbside tunnelto winning their regional system that could be made from recycledtournament to winningmaterials, allowing automated deliverythe England and Wales trucks to securely drop off parcels to reduceNational Final to the environmental impact of the tricky lastrepresenting the UKmile in logistics. in the USA, showshow impactful a coach The children have worked extremely hardlike Clive can beon their project and LEGO robot design inon young people.For more information about FIRST LEGO League, visit: education.theiet.org/first-lego-league-programmes'