Budding engineers crowned FIRST LEGO League All-Ireland champions

A team of young engineers from Holywood, County Down, have been crowned champions of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) FIRST LEGO League All-Ireland National Final competition.

The winning team were the Treehouse Gang whose winning solution to the challenge was the ‘Teeny Tiny Turbine (TTT)’ that generates power and depends on human beings to work. The Treehouse Gang have been invited to represent Northern Ireland at the Morocco International Open in Marrakech in May.

This year’s competition is called SUPERPOWERED and is all about exploring how energy is sourced, transported and consumed around the world.

Teams are tasked with designing a solution to making the energy journey more efficient and making sure they have lots of fun in the process!

The FIRST LEGO League programme in the Republic of Ireland is supported by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at SFI, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be supporting the IET and Learnit to grow this impactful programme, tailoring it to Irish schools and bringing engineering and robotics to new audiences. This programme supports the SFI Discover programme’s central aims to increase public engagement and broaden participation and access to STEM across Ireland.”

Lucy Owen, FIRST LEGO League Education Manager at the IET, said: “FIRST LEGO League allows young people to experience engineering in action. It gives students the opportunity to get hands-on experience with robotics and design innovative solutions to real world problems, all whilst bringing excitement to STEM subjects. Programming, teamwork, problem-solving and communications skills have never been so much fun and gives students an insight into the creative careers that the wonderful world of engineering offers.

“There is a great need for young people with STEM skills to fill the next generation of engineering roles and we are excited to see such bright young engineering minds in FIRST LEGO League.”

The final was streamed live throughout the day on the IET’s YouTube channel and is available to watch on demand here.