The twelve schools came to a launch event in January and picked up the equipment that would be loaned to them for the challenge period.  The challenges that their robot needed to overcome were demonstrated to them and the marking system was explained.  Two weeks later they attended a training day to clarify the use of the programming software to control the robot.  We did not meet again until the day of the competition.

The competition day was great fun.  Each school attended with a maximum team of 10 pupils and the atmosphere was buzzing!  The whole competition was themed under the heading Ocean Odyssey and teams arrived with banners, flags and t-shirts made especially for the event.

The challenges throughout the day were as follows:  The teams were timetabled to compete on the competition tables against another team where their robot had to complete as many of the nine challenges as it could inside 2.5 minutes.  They then swapped tables (like changing ends in a tennis match!)  and competed again.  One challenge spanned both tables, the others were all local to their table.  A great deal of problem solving and strategy skills were deployed during the weeks building up to the competition itself.

During the day the teams also had to make a presentation to a panel of judges describing a problem they had discovered with the oceans and their solution to it.  The presentation did not have to have any ICT involved at all.  Drama, rap, dance, anything went!

They were also interviewed by another panel of judges about their robot design.  It was important to assess who had actually worked this out and why they had chosen their specific design.  The pitfalls and challenges were also discussed at this interview.

During the day some judges were also assessing teams on their teamwork.  These judges were looking for all sorts of hints and clues as to the way the teams were working and the respect they had for their fellow competitors. 

The Batt Primary School with their team "LEGO - You're Hurting My Hand" won the robot challenge, the Presentation aspect of the competition was won by "The Sandy Cods" from Southwold Primary School, the Technical Award was won by "The Ocean Warriors" from Kirtlington Primary School and the Teamwork Award was won by the “St Andrew’s Lego Team” (SALT) from St Andrew’s Primary School, Headington. The overall winner with consistently high marks in all four aspects of the competition was "The Ocean Busters" from Chadlington Primary School and the Judges' Special Award was presented to "The Valley Road Turtles" from Valley Road Primary School who competed in the final against The Batt School.