| The Quadcopter challenge is a annual event organised by Raytheon at each of their UK sites culminating in a National final to be held in Manchester in December. The event is targeted at Year 9 secondary school students. The competition entails building a quadcopter (drone) from a kit of parts with suitable customisation to address a specific theme. This year the theme was supplying medical supplies to a disaster or war zone. The Raytheon Broughton site held their regional event at Glyndwr University, Wrexham. The challenge is an opportunity for the schoolchildren to engage with a hands-on project in engineering and was supported by the Welsh Government. Local schools were invited to put together teams for the event. Six school teams attended namely: Hawarden Flint Clywedog St Richard Gwynne Bryn Alyn Bryn Hyfryd The competition was judged on both flying skills and a presentation of the work.design and manufacturing process, customisation, as well as their team abilities in managing the project. The enthusiasm of the teams was apparent. Also, the number of girls involved was encouraging, representing about 50% of the participants. The work carried out by the 6 teams was very good and all would receive certificates recording their participation. However, it was necessary to choose a winner. The winning team was Team Icarus of Ysgol Bryn Hyfryd, Ruthin. They made a very professional presentation as well as scoring very highly on the flight elements. The team comprised 4 girls (Elen, Beca, Katelyn, Olivia) and 1 boy (Ifan). The team showed a maturity and professionalism within their work which resulted in a very impressive quadcopter design. The team would go on to the National finals and be given an opportunity to use the Glyndwr Flight Simulator. In addition, an IMechE cash price was awarded to be shared by the team members. We have also asked that the winning team be invited to the UAS Challenge in 2018 which once again will be held in North Wales. The Region are very pleased to support Raytheon with this excellent competition and look forward to being involved in next year’s event. |