Challenge 24 at NWRC as local students work on Robotics project

Students from St Mary’s College and St Columb’s College have taken part in North West Regional college’s 2024 Engineering Robotics Challenge.

In partnership with GEMX, the college’s staff at the newly opened i4.0 centre at Springtown Campus set the students a challenge to automate the process of palletising using a state of the art collaborative robot. . The students then presented their design plan and solutions to a panel of judges.

The team from St Mary’s College triumphed on the day on what was a close-run competition, and each of the students received a google nest mini speaker, Industry 4.0 branded t-shirt from NWRC and GEMX as well as the Engineering challenge cup. The remaining two teams also received a branded Industry 4.0 t-shirt from NWRC.

Cathal Ferry, manager of the NWRC i4.0 centre, said the standard of work provided by the students was exceptional.

He added: “All of students presented excellent overviews of their design briefs and the team at NWRC was very impressed with their ideas on how to use the collaborative robots (Cobots) to complete this challenge, as well as their ideas on how to utilise the Universal Robots UR10E robotic arm that we have on site at Springtown.

“Students were also able to discuss how the project could be extended or applied in different scenarios such as on a production line. All of the projects were fun and engaging as well as creative and the students stayed calm when they receive a grilling about the project, their methodology, and results.

“We are delighted to be able to bring local schools in to have the opportunity to learn more about robotics, such an important part of the STEM curriculum. “

North West Regional College is a partner in Smart Nano NI, a Northern Ireland consortium collaborating to develop game-changing advanced prototyping and smart manufacturing methods to deliver new technologies. This competition is aligned to one of the consortiums main themes of Skills for the Next generation.