The youngsters from Berkshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire won the UK final of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL), which was attended by Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan.
The winning team will now go to the USA to compete in the World FLL Festival in St. Louis.
The competition, organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), aims to get more young people interested in engineering and technology, and saw 35 teams from across the UK showcase their skills.
Secretary of State for Education and Loughborough MP, Nicky Morgan, said: “We need to see more young people engaging in competitions like FLL which encourage them to consider careers in engineering and technology, so that the UK economy continues to be supported by a booming industry.”
Teams were judged on their ability to design, build and programme a LEGO MINDSTORMS robot, their presentation and research skills and how well they cooperate with each other and their competitors. They were also tasked with presenting an original idea related to redesigning how we gather knowledge and skills in the 21st century.
The winning team C14 impressed judges with their advanced robotics skills, as well as their project, which was a game that educates young people studying Geography about natural disasters.
President of the IET, William Webb, said: “The IET runs competitions like the FIRST LEGO League in order to show young people the merits of engineering. In order to tackle the engineering skills gap we need more graduates to enter the profession, and this can only happen if more school-age children are attracted to, and choose to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.”