Silver medals for SATRO finalists
After a stunning performance at the First Tech Challenge (FTC) national competition, Wilson’s School secured second place.
SATRO is an engineering competition which promotes quick thinking for problem solving with rudimentary materials, and differs from FTC as the entire competition starts and ends within 90 minutes – far quicker than a season lasting for seven months!
Wilson’s School was able to qualify for SATRO’s Final round after a team, comprising primarily of students partaking in the FTC, competed at St. Philomena’s High School for Girls. An overwhelming victory was achieved in the KS4 and KS3 categories, and this was achieved by the KS4 team via a simpler, and more elegant, design. Plans for the winning machine were masterminded by Luka Car (11S2), and implemented by Laxmi, Rishit, Evan, and Aidan. The KS3 team, most notably featuring Srihan, a member of the 2nd Robotics team, was also able to succeed and attend the Final round.
Kindly hosted by Air Products, the Final round consisted of creating a crane which could optionally rotate for increased points. A place on the podium (for the KS4 team) was secured by a clever arrangement of a straw rotating on a dowel, and a lifting mechanism was enabled by a lever. This had the capability of being the highest-scoring crane of the competition, per team members who are fiercely proud of their performance, and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to attend.
However, when operating the crane, a poor interpretation of the rules resulted in critical time losses, which significantly lowered performance and serves as a reminder to carefully consider the constraints when approaching any tasks. Wilson’s School tends to have some of the premier engineers in the country (as showcased by the Robotics teams) and a 2nd place this year can only provide hope for the next year of competitions. With incredible talent in the cohort, such as with Luka and Laxmi in the engineering disciplines, it is evident that Wilson’s School can continue a stellar track record of performing at the highest levels of British engineering.
The event itself was well-catered and organised. Members of the team were incredibly pleased to have access to sandwiches, water, and crisps as well as to the luxurious Air Products site. Particular commendations were given for the intriguing demonstration of liquid nitrogen’s effects on materials by Pascal, an Air Products engineer, and the many interesting engineers supervising.
Additionally, the KS4 SATRO team would like to thank the organisation itself, Mr. Carew-Robinson, and all of the other schools, for enabling the competition to be as wonderful as it was. Encouragement is given to younger students to participate in more STEM related competitions, especially with the plentiful support offered by the school.
Article written by Aidan (Year 11)