This challenge is a national and international competition which requires young people between the ages of 9-16 to design, build and program robots to perform tasks on a specially designed mat following a certain theme which is different each year.

The competition starts in early September when teams must register on the internet at a cost of £90.

First, we hold a launch event to introduce the challenge to teams.  Details of this will have been sent separately to schools.

Then, as the teams work to prepare their robots to meet the challenge, we will support schools who are learning the necessary programming skills.

Lastly, the local competition is held in November where winning teams will be invited to compete in the national final.

This year's theme is 'Power Puzzle' which looks at the issues surrounding energy use in the present and well into the future.