Winning cadets receive robotics assistance
A
BAE Systems product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Mar 19, 2004
Young cadets from 870 (Dreghorn) Squadron in Edinburgh are the UK Grand Champions in the 7th series of Robot Wars on Channel 5.
Young cadets from 870 (Dreghorn) Squadron in Edinburgh are the UK Grand Champions in the 7th series of Robot Wars on Channel 5.
Their "Typhoon 2" cone-shaped robot spins at 1000rev/min and contains menacing claws to destroy its opponents.
The faster it spins, the more energy it gains to unleash on its enemy.
Typhoon 2 devastated and destroyed some of the country's best robots as it cruised to victory.
The Typhoon Robots Project has been running for 3 years and involves six BAE Systems employees assisting 80 air cadets to design and construct a number of robots to compete in the Channel 5 television series Robot Wars.
Working mostly with Edinburgh air cadets but reaching a very wide young audience, the Typhoon project has scored massive community value in providing technical education and career direction.
Engineers from BAE systems are showing youngsters, in the most dramatic way, how to use their science knowledge creatively to win against the best.
Their medium-weight robot (50 kg) has now won the middleweight championship 3 years in succession and the girls won the 2003 lightweight championship as well.
Corporal Garry Cairns (16) from Currie High School and Flight Sergeant Graeme Horne (17) from Boroughmuir High School operated the "Typhoon 2" robot, which stormed to victory on Channel 5 on Sunday 7th March, netting the team a GBP 5000 prize.
The team captain is Flying Officer Peter Bennett, an ex-RAF test pilot and now a reserve officer with the Air Cadet Squadron.
He said: "When I and some colleagues first set out in 2001 to interest young people in engineering and science through designing and constructing robots for Robot Wars we never realised how successful this project would become".
Bennett is now finishing writing a book describing the Typhoon Robots Project from its inception and shows how simple mathematics and physics is used to optimise the robot designs and make them truly formidable machines.
He said: "Thanks to this project and BAE Systems' help, we've made robotics into a subject which excites young people and shows them that science and engineering can be real fun".
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