Year 10 students Joe Clover and Aaron Tomlinson are celebrating today after beating off competition from across the North West at the Science & Technology Challenge Finals yesterday (2nd February).

Although they came second, they were only seconds away from beating the top team, and so impressed the judges that they have been invited to compete in the National Finals in London next month.

Competing against a dozen teams from all over the region, Joe and Aaron had to design, build and program a robot to carry out a range of tasks within a fixed time limit. The robot had to include a number of different sensors, and the tasks were designed to prove that Joe and Aaron had understood and carried out their brief.

For the National Final, they have to take their skills up a notch, adding sonic, colour and touch sensors to the next robot they build. They will be able to take two fellow students to add to their team, and are already planning to win - as the next stage is the International Final in Barbados.

Joe is a keen programmer, and is aiming to go to college and university to study for a career in games development. Aaron is also interested in Art and hopes to use both his IT and art skills to design websites after college.