News / News
Drones, bomb detection robots and Bristol’s engineers of tomorrow
A Ministry of Defence bomb detection robot is in the hands of a primary school pupil.
Brow furrowed in concentration, Daisy Alford carefully uses the controls to operate the compact machine, known as the Dragon Runner, as she steers it across a shiny floor at MoD Abbey Wood in Filton.
Daisy is one of several children at the launch of the primary and secondary Engineer Leaders Award.
is needed now More than ever
Each have been asked to ponder the question: ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ for the national competition that aims to inspire future generations to pursue a career in Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.
L-R Neve Jeffrey, Thea Sheldon and Niamh Roe examine the Desert Hawk drone
“I’m thinking of making a decision-making robot,” says Thea Sheldon of West Town Lane Academy, confidently handling one of the MoD’s drones, known as Desert Hawk.
She adds that she has hundreds more ideas to put down on paper for the competition which will see the winning design made into reality by engineers from UWE Bristol.
School pupils with Dr Susan Scurlock and air marshal Julian Young
“The imagination of primary and secondary school pupils is given free rein when they are inspired by engineers,” says Primary Engineer CEO and founder Dr Susan Scurlock.
“It is wonderful to see how inventive, caring and, at times, hilarious pupils’ creations can be. We look forward to receiving entries and welcoming everyone to the awards evening and public exhibition.”
For the first time, the awards are supported by the MoD’s Bristol-based procurement organisation, Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) and plenty of military personnel are on hand to lend their expertise and talk pupils through the array of robots and equipment available to the military.
Harley Lewis, Elise Beaumont, Anish Basuthkar and Zak Armstrong from Meadowbrook Primary with the Desert Hawk
“It’s not about recruiting per se, it’s about doing the right thing to make sure there are engineers for all of us in the future,” says air marshal Julian Young, who is STEM ambassador for DE&S.
“It’s about encouraging problem solving and hopefully it will be exciting to think about things in another way.”
The air marshal has spent 38 years as an engineer in the Royal Air Force and has the letters after his name (CB OBE BSc MA MSc MDA CEng FIET FRAeS HonFAPM RAF) to prove it, but he says that when he was school he was not aware of what engineering was; he just knew that he had a love of taking things apart and rebuilding them.
https://twitter.com/DefenceES/status/955467256812666880
The aim of the awards is to make children aware of engineering at an early age, so they can aspire to a future career in the field.
“We have 11,200 people here at the DE&S and 3,200 of them are engineers so it’s a huge part of what we do,” adds Young.
“There is a really great opportunity to raise the status of the profession across the whole country. Particularly post Brexit, we need to grow our own engineers.”
As an example, bomb disposal during World War Two relied on people on the ground and was fraught with danger, whereas now the robot can go in and do the work 100 metres away from the danger.
Last year’s winner, Bella Hunt (right), tries on some body armour with fellow pupil
Busy trying on some body armour, last year’s winner Bella Hunt is excited at the prospect of working on another design.
The eight-year-old invented a solar-powered rubbish bin robot that tracks lines across playgrounds and makes noises to encourage children to pick up their litter.
The winners of the South West competition and shortlisted illustrations from other schools will be showcased at a public exhibition at UWE Bristol in June.
The university’s engineering entrepreneurs will also be challenged to bring one of the inventions to life and take it from concept, develop the design and build a full-scale functioning prototype.
Primary and secondary schools can register to take part in this year’s Engineer Leaders Award at www.leadersaward.com.
Watching a drone in action
Read more: A fast track career in science
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
