As part of our continued commitment to supporting STEM education and sparking early interest in engineering careers, Optima was proud to take part in the FIRST® LEGO® League Southwest Final last month – held at the GKN Innovation Centre in Filton.
This year’s theme – “Submerged” – challenged twenty-eight teams of young innovators to dive into autonomous robotics and real-world problem-solving inspired by underwater exploration. It was an exciting, high-energy day – and we were thrilled to support it on several fronts.
Backing Future Engineers with Tools and Mentorship
We sponsored two local schools – Winterbourne Academy and Gordano School – by providing them with SPIKE™ Prime robotics kits to help bring their ideas to life. For Winterbourne Academy, it was their very first time entering the competition – and they rose to the challenge brilliantly.
The initiative was spearheaded by Principal Consultant Tom Madden, with fellow Senior Consultant Sam Edwards providing additional mentoring support. Throughout the lead-up to the final, Tom and Sam worked closely with the student teams, guiding them through robot design, coding, and innovation project development.
“I’ve been involved with judging the FLL competition for several years – it’s always a fun, rewarding day and amazing to see the ideas and inventions the teams come up with,” said Tom. “This year, alongside judging, it was great to directly support local schools – not just with the LEGO kits themselves, but also with the development of their robots and projects.”
Under their expert mentorship, the teams designed, built, and coded their own robots to tackle a series of timed missions, while also developing creative solutions to a real-world problem based on this year’s ‘Submerged’ theme.
Judging with Purpose – and Collaboration at its Best
Six of our colleagues took on the rewarding role of judges, assessing entries across four key areas: Core Values, Innovation Project, Robot Design, and Robot Performance. It was inspiring to see the enthusiasm, creativity, and teamwork on display from all participating teams.
It was also fantastic to collaborate with fellow judges and mentors from Rowden and Babcock – working together to make this event a supportive, memorable experience for everyone involved.
A huge thank you to Graphic Science for organising the event and helping to create such an engaging platform for young minds to shine.
Inspiring Future Engineers
Encouraging a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) is a core part of Optima’s mission to support the next generation. By sharing our skills, mentoring young people, and actively engaging in outreach initiatives like FIRST® LEGO® League, we aim to grow awareness of the exciting career paths available in systems engineering and beyond.
We are already looking forward to getting involved again when the next season kicks off in September!
Learn more about our STEM commitments and outreach: optima turns ten