As we are about to start next year’s robotics campaign I
realised I hadn’t really blogged last year’s efforts! It was a busy summer – we
had our European Finals at the UK representatives, Earning CREST Silver awards,
closely followed by winning the Big Bang Eastern regional Club Showcase, and a
dinner at Cambridge with the RaspberryPi programmer who had helped us with our
Raspberry theme when we took our mind controlled robots to Mannheim... And then
the explorers were off to Korea and Fiji so I never had time to catch breath...
...so cool...
singing with SA
Waiting for the judging...
Go BERT5e!
Finally, after the robo games, we had international friendship night and a chance for the scouts to get under the bright lights and be rock stars for a day – we had to showcase UK culture and so sang Valerie and Hey Soul Sister (OK – that's American, but we could sing it in tune so we did!)
and our dinner with the Raspberry Pi guys at St Johns – great way to round off our best year yet at robotics (and the showcase prize is cash as well as glory! – the cheque is in the post – they decided not to post our winnings during the Summer hols so we will have to get the team back together to give some tips to the BERT6e and collect their cash!)
Mannheim was great of course – after winning the research
prize and going to Istanbul two years earlier we knew a bit more what to
expect. We had our flags and drums and guitars so we could make some noise and
join the party, and also had our cool mind control robots to play with at our
base camp.
The competition organisers had arranged a special opening of
the Mannheim Technology museum – it’s a very cool science and engineering
museum with lots of hands on exhibits – like the London Science museum but with
more hands on for secondary science. It was open just to the teams with a mini competition
to work our way around the museum, but actually, the exhibits were too
interesting and we spent all our time just exploring alongside the other teams
from around the world. And then after a short break to check in at the 4* hotel
(hmmm... don’t get used to this scouts), it was back to the museum for Frankfurters
and disco... a chance for the girls to pose!
...so cool...
The next day was a day to set out our stall
RasPi in action
and look around at what everyone else was doing...
A chance to meet everyone, practice the robot game, prepare for the international night performance. It is very inspiring to see how well all the teams get along, no matter what country they are from – where else would you see Isrealis and Arabs, running together, wearing their national flags? The politicians should be more like these guys!
RasPi in action
and look around at what everyone else was doing...
A chance to meet everyone, practice the robot game, prepare for the international night performance. It is very inspiring to see how well all the teams get along, no matter what country they are from – where else would you see Isrealis and Arabs, running together, wearing their national flags? The politicians should be more like these guys!
The next days were for the competition, were BERT5e did as
well as he could, but we could see that we still have a way to go if we are to
win the robot game! Making friends – the South Africans were loud!, The
Mexicans and Icelanders were cool and staying in our hotel, the other Brits
were on the next door stand – the scouts mostly have genuine facebook friends
from around the world now, and many countries are now more than just places in
a geography lesson, but places where their friends live.
singing with SA
Waiting for the judging...
Go BERT5e!
Finally, after the robo games, we had international friendship night and a chance for the scouts to get under the bright lights and be rock stars for a day – we had to showcase UK culture and so sang Valerie and Hey Soul Sister (OK – that's American, but we could sing it in tune so we did!)
Finally prizes, party, and goodbyes...
– the scouts were great ambassadors for the UK and we made lots of friends, and still had more to come – if you check the blog for July, you’ll see our report on winning the Big Bang Science club showcase,
– the scouts were great ambassadors for the UK and we made lots of friends, and still had more to come – if you check the blog for July, you’ll see our report on winning the Big Bang Science club showcase,
and our dinner with the Raspberry Pi guys at St Johns – great way to round off our best year yet at robotics (and the showcase prize is cash as well as glory! – the cheque is in the post – they decided not to post our winnings during the Summer hols so we will have to get the team back together to give some tips to the BERT6e and collect their cash!)
So if you are ready to work hard, play hard, and spend another night a week with scouts, let me know and you can be a part of next years team!
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