BOURNEMOUTH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

Building Engineers of the Future

Building Engineers of the Future

We are #morethanrobots 

Welcome to BSG Robotics

Our Mission

At BSG Robotics our Core Mission is Building Engineers of the Future. We are an all girls robotics, engineering and STEM Outreach club that aims to inspire the next generation of students in the engineering and tech sectors.

Founded in 2022, our club consists of two teams of students ranging from aged 11 to 16 supported by staff volunteers and Sixth Form student mentors. We meet twice weekly in our design technology department.

Our club takes part in FIRST ® TECH CHALLENGE, the world’s largest STEM competition for students.

Currently we take part in the UK Competition, compete in regional competitions and aim to win prizes and the FIRST ® TECH CHALLENGE UK National Competition held each year.

But our club is #morethanrobots and we aim to develop a wide range of skills in our students that will enhance their skill set and educational journey with us. We want to inspire as many as possible to consider STEM careers with a particular focus on mechanical, electrical or software engineering. A real collaboration between our D&T and Computing Departments, BSG Robotics also engages with industry mentors to further enhance the skills students develop and giving them further inspiration for working in related fields.

We fully embrace the Core Values of FIRST® and get our students involved in planning & delivering STEM outreach in other schools, helping the community and trying to grow the FIRST® UK network in our region.

As the Southwest FIRST® UK Hub, we not only host an arena available for other local clubs to use but also provide support in other clubs starting, and supporting them in the FIRST® UK journey.

Our Latest Twitter News

#morethanrobotsuk

About FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE

It’s way more than building robots. FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE teams (up to 15 team members, Year 7-13) are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format.

Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, while realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and working as a team.

The robot kit is reusable from year to year and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming. Teams design and build robots, raise funds, design and market their team brand, and do community outreach to earn specific awards. Participants are eligible to apply for $80M+ in college scholarships in the USA.

Each season concludes with regional championship events and an exciting FIRST® Championship.

The really cool thing about FIRST® Tech Challenge is…all skill levels are welcomed and needed, technical or non-technical. Student and adult team members are encouraged to bring any skills they already have, like coding, electronics, metalworking, graphic design, web creation, public speaking, videography, and more. Adult coaches guide students as they gain skills and confidence in a supportive, inclusive environment.

Gracious Professionalism®

We express the FIRST philosophies of Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® through our Core Values which we encourage at our Hub Events:

  • Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
  • Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
  • Impact:  We apply what we learn to improve our world.
  • Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
  • Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.
  • Fun: We enjoy and celebrate what we do!

2022/2023 Season – POWERPLAY

This season’s game

The 2022-2023 FTC season game is POWERPLAY. The POWERPLAY challenge features game elements such as Cones, Junctions, Substations, and Terminals. At the start of the match, each robot begins against their alliance wall and is able to be pre-loaded with one cone. Once the match starts, teams race to score cones and create circuits during the thirty second autonomous period followed by the two minute driver controlled period. During the last thirty seconds of the match called the end game, teams continue to score cones and have the opportunity to cap a junction with a beacon and park in their alliance’s terminal for extra points. 

Our Teams

The 2022/23 Season is our Rookie Year and we were overwhelmed when we had to secure grants for two FIRST® UK Teams. We have started with over 30 students, including Sixth Form students choosing to mentor and lead our younger Year 7-11 students .

We have a younger team with students from Year 7-8, and a second team with students from Years 9-11.

Enginious

FTC Team: #22456

UK Team Number: #447

Ultraviolet

FTC Team: #22457

UK Team Number: #456

Southwest FTC UK Hub

We aim over the next few years to expand our hub’s members with more local schools and teams by providing support online and in person. We will provide regular opportunities for meet ups, scrimmages and provide training to mentors and team leads to give students the best experience.

The current schools in our hub are:

  • Bournemouth School for Girls
  • Ferndown Upper School
  • Poole Grammar School
  • SGS Berkeley Green UTC
  • St John’s Marlborough
  • The Swanage School
  • UWC Atlantic

Latest Events

Southwest Scrimmage 2023 – An Amazing Success!

Each season as the Southwest Hub we host casual meet ups of local teams to practice using their robots on the Game Field and prepare for the regional (and hopefully) national finals.

It’s a chance to share expertise and ideas between schools and help each other be #morethanrobots. Each year we also invite a special guest to share with students their work in a STEM related field, this year we were excited to have guests from the UK Military.  Special Guest- Colonel Anders-Brown and his team, giving a talk from the UK military’s Future Capability Group, demonstrating a Boston Dynamics SPOT Quadruped.

Talks was given to our Team Members, visiting FTCUK Teams and also our Year 7 students, meaning we had over 200 young people engaged with STEM and robotics on the day.

We hope that next year’s scrimmage will be even bigger, so please make sure to share your experience on social media and amongst other colleagues so we can inspire more young people and team leads to join FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE UK.

Our Rookie Team #456 – ULTRAviolet have planned a programme range of outreach activities for the community including the Robot guest at the scrimmage.

A Boston Dynamics Quadruped Robot

Our Rookie Team #456 – ULTRAviolet has designed a ‘PointPrism’ to help team’s with their game strategy at our scrimmage. 

Any FTC Teams can download the PointPrism and print it for themselves.

#morethanaclub

After engaging with the FIRST® programme you’ll come to find the worldwide FIRST® community greet you with open (robotic) arms. The values of FIRST® helps drive a culture of positive but supportive competition and the development of life & technical skills.

If you have computing or technology staff willing to give a few hours a week to a enhance the experiences of 12-18 year olds then FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE is for you.

Getting started with FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE

We’re here to help you every step of the way!

Later this year we will be promoting FIRST® TECH CHALLENGE in our region, so we have more Southwest Teams join our Hub and be part of the greatest STEM competition around. We’re here to support experienced and rookie teams with leadership, the tech and being #morethanrobots. In the mean time, check out the FIRST® UK website for the latest info.