Ashlawn School
Our plan for the Rolls-Royce Science prize is one which we think could potentially be a life saver. We will be working with students, STEM teachers and STEM Ambassadors to facilitate an engineering project that will see us design and build an autonomous model boat that could be used for large scale search and rescue operations – for example following a plane crash or shipping disaster. The boat will be controlled using an Arduino computer and drive itself. The project will enable us to develop a wide range of skills in students and staff and engage with a number of other schools as part of the project.
Ian Hardiman, Project Lead & Senior Teacher and Lead for Science - I am the project leader and will be bringing together the whole project and ensuring that as many students as possible are part of it. As the project progresses I will be publicising it in school and through our network of local schools, as well as developing ways it can be used in lessons.
Kat Wells, DT Technician - Kat has a wealth of experience in engineering projects and will be assisting the students in the building of the boat. Also she will be working on ways to work with Primary schools, using the project as a way of improving and enriching their STEM curriculum
Chris Wesson, Head of Design & Technology - Chris will be working with Kat and the students in designing and building the boat, including how we can use the project to improve our Engineering teaching, particularly through the use of Solidworks and CAD/CAM
Phil Clark - Head of IT/Computing - Phil is leading a team of students on the programming side of the project, working towards developing the required code and electronics that will allow the boat to function independently.