Thu, 18 July, 2024
As part of our commitment to develop the skills and innovation required to meet our world’s future sustainability goals, members of the TWI Wales NDT Software and Robotics Team attended Cwmafan Primary School in Port Talbot on 11 July to deliver a STEM event alongside the British Computing Society.
Dr Ross Hanna and PhD Student Mengyuan Zhang delivered a presentation to pupils in Year 5 on robotics and how they are used at TWI Wales to deliver a range of non-destructive testing solutions in different environments.
Figure 1. Dr Ross Hanna and Mengyuan Zhang
Paul Bulmer of the British Computing Society was also on hand to demonstrate how to program a Lego Mindstorms Robot Kit, so pupils could get hands-on experience of programming a robot.
Also attending the event today was ‘Husky,’ one of our integrated robotic platforms utilised for research into automated inspection, which gave the pupils an experience with a real industrial robotic platform in a safe and accessible way.
Figure 2. 'Husky'
The day was a great success, as shown through the feedback from pupils:
Cerys: “I really enjoyed the husky because it could hold stuff. I would like to find out more about husky.”
Ffion: “I would like to know about programming. It was really fun!”
Niall: “I would like to find out more about robots and how to build them.”
Olivia: “I would like to learn more about technology because it seems cool.”
Figure 3. Feedback from the pupils
We would like to thank everyone at Cwmafan Primary School for inviting us in to talk to them about engineering, STEM, robotics, and non-destructive testing.