Students prepare to compete in 'robotics Olympics'

The students and their robot will take on teams from 190 different countries

A south London school has qualified for an international "Olympics-style" robotics competition, in what it claims is a first.

Young people from Langley Park School for Boys in Beckenham won the UK Championships earlier this year and will head to Panama City on 29 October to represent Britain in the First Global Challenge.

Teams from 190 different countries will be represented at the event.

Maths teacher Matt Fry, who introduced robotics to the school when he started there two years ago, said being the first comprehensive school to represent Great Britain at the international event made him want to encourage other schools to take part.

Adrian said he was proud of how far they had come as a team

Adrian, who is part of the robotics team, said: "In two years, we've come so far. None of us thought when we started that we would become the UK champions and represent our country in a global competition."

Reflecting on their win, he said: "It was just so incredible - robotics has felt really life-changing.

"The journey that we've been on and how much we've learnt. I was just really proud that all our hard work paid off."

He said he and his friends signed up to Mr Fry's robotics club two years ago.

"None of us knew much about the competition," he said. "We actually turned up to our first competition and lost quite badly.

"But after that we bounced back and just put everything into it - and then we did really well."

Kieran, who is sitting next to the robot they will bring to Panama City, said they might call it Steve

Looking ahead to the competition in Panama City, fellow team member Kieran said: "Meeting new people from all around the world is something that I would never have dreamed of when starting robotics as a school.

"Doing it with my friends means a lot to me - and now to get a chance to compete abroad is something that we could never have dreamed of.

"When you overcome new problems and new challenges, you feel so much satisfaction - it's just been an incredible experience."

Each year the First Global Challenge sets teams tasks based around real-world problems. This year the theme is sustainable food networks.

Kieran said: "I think we can do well. We're definitely there to try our best, learn from other people's teams, especially because it's our first time competing globally."

Another student, Teddy, thanked Mr Fry for introducing the group to robotics.

"Mr Fry is like a god in our eyes, he's just taken this programme, given it to us and look where we are now - we're going to Panama," he said.

"Without him, none of this would have ever happened. We can only say 'thank you'."

Matt Fry said the boys knew before he did that if they won the UK competition, they would get to compete internationally

Mr Fry said he introduced the club after witnessing its potential for young people.

"I love them to be making decisions," he said. "The robot is almost the smallest part of this, it's the leadership, it's the project-managing, it's all manner of different things.

"The fact that we're the first comprehensive school to go, it just feels like we can open doors.

"We're approaching other schools and saying, 'if we can, you can'."