The all-girls team were competing as part of FIRST Tech Challenge UK, a robotics competition for 12-18-year-olds.
The top award is called the Inspire Award and celebrates them as inspirations to other young people not only for their engineering skills but also for the soft skills they have gained throughout the challenge such as community outreach and working with industry. It is the challenge’s most prestigious award.
The event’s panel of industry judges shared: “It was their teamwork, motivation and consistent pursuit of excellence that truly set them apart.”
Akruti, Cassiopeia’s team captain, shared: “It took us four years to get here and we finally did it. We persevered and no matter what happened, we had fun. We’re so excited for champs!”
Cassiopeia will now be gearing up for the UK Championships on 26-27 June. They’ll face 63 other UK teams for the chance to be crowned National Inspire Award Winners and have the chance to represent Great Britain on the global stage in Panama at FIRST Global.
This year’s game, INTO THE DEEP, presented by RTX, challenges teams to design, build and code robots for a water-themed game. During two-and-a-half-minute matches, teams navigate their robots through complex tasks, combining autonomous and driver-controlled operations.
FIRST Tech Challenge UK empowers young people aged 12-18 with the technical knowledge and soft skills to thrive in STEM and beyond. From September to March, working like teams in industry and often supported by a mentor, they design, build and program a robot to compete at progressive events. Teams hone new skills such as communication, teamwork, programming, project management, fundraising, design and engineering.
The programme is run by charity, FIRST UK, which aims to make STEM less intimidating, more diverse and inclusive. Supported by Arm, XTX Markets, RTX, Gene Haas Foundation, Bloomberg, Salesforce and Qualcomm, the charity is part of the global FIRST movement established in 1989, which reaches 650,000 young people worldwide each year.