Three teens from the Simon Langton schools in Canterbury have won a trip to the FIRST LEGO League World Festival in the USA, after winning the National Final of the IET’s FIRST LEGO League (FLL) UK robotics competition.



The competition is one of the IET’s leading initiatives to encourage more young people to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects in order to pursue a career in engineering.



Oli English, Emma English and Carlos Purchase-Galarza, who made up the ‘Invicta’ team, beat off competition from 29 other teams at the event at Loughborough University on Saturday, 1 February to be crowned FLL UK Champions.



One of the winning team, 14-year-old Carlos, said: “It is going to be an amazing experience meeting teams from all around the world and having fun together in America. Last year we went to Germany [for the European Championships] so it will be interesting to see how the competition was different.”



Oli English, also 14, said: “It has been a thrilling journey for me. This is my third year competing so it is an amazing feeling to finally achieve our dream.”



Oli's sister, Emma, the only girl on the team, said: “It is my first year competing in FLL and I can't describe how excited I am to be representing the UK at such a huge event.”



Carlos’ father, John Purchase, said: “The team were elated to win – they are now bubbling with ideas to raise money for the trip to America, and to push the project and the robots further.”



Read more on the IET Member News website