All-girl Reddford House team win global robotics competition

Alishia Naidoo, Bontle Ngoasheng and Shalom Halata with the winning robot they coded, designed and built.

Alishia Naidoo, Bontle Ngoasheng and Shalom Halata with the winning robot they coded, designed and built.

Published Jul 28, 2022

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An all-girl trio from Reddford House Blue Hills have won the Inspired Builds 2022 Global Robotics competition, in the 11-12 age category.

The dynamic trio, made up of Bontle Ngoasheng, Alishia Naidoo, and Shalom Halata coded, designed and built a robot that can move in different directions.

The Inspired Builds 2022 is an inter-school technology challenge bringing together inspired students from around the world.

This year’s competition - titled “Enabling Movement” and led by St Louis School of Milan, Italy - invited inspired students from schools all over the world from ages 7 to 13 to make machines that enable movement using innovative coding and creative design.

Their robot proved superior in four categories: Intelligent Design, Innovation, Programming Quality and General Appeal.

The Reddford House students jumped at the opportunity to show their creativity and ingenuity through the use of machine technology in this competition which is designed to highlight the best of Inspired Schools’ student robotics talent across 22 countries, spanning five continents.

“The standard of entries this year was incredibly high, with students demonstrating their knowledge and skills in this STEM competition,” said Zain Strydom, Head of Campus at Reddford House Blue Hills.

“We could not be prouder of the dedication and hard work of our robotics team members and teachers, which resulted in our second international win in the Inspired Builds competition. As we continue to invest in robotics and coding projects, our students learn how to build robots and programmes, code, grasp a solid maths and science foundation, and build collaborative and leadership skills. These are all the necessary ingredients for a highly successful future career.”

This is not the first time Reddford House students have dominated in the Global Inspired Builds Robotics competition on a global platform.

In 2021 when the competition was hosted by Fulham House School in London, England, two Reddford House Grade 7 teams from South Africa were placed in the top 5 winning positions. Students came from all three of the Reddford House schools in South Africa - Reddford House Northcliff, Reddford House Blue Hills in Midrand, and Reddford House The Hills, Pretoria East.

The global competition is in line with Inspired’s educational approach that’s based on lateral thinking, comprehension, and the innovative application of skills and concepts, all of which encompass empowering students to build successful careers in the fast-growing and crucially important STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) sectors, and thrive in a fast-changing information-driven and digital world.

EDUCATION