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CREDIT: RENTALCARS.COM
WIRRAL SCHOOLGIRLS FLY TO JAPAN
Two Wirral schoolgirls are about to compete in a world
robotics championship in Japan after developing a robot
that could be used to save lives in the future.
Anna Sass and Lilly Hudson, both 15, built the bot during
their school lunch breaks after teaching themselves how to
code.
The robot, affectionately known as ‘Alan’, is fitted with
colour and light sensors and is programmed to perform
tasks and overcome obstacles without human intervention.
Anna and Lilly, who attend Prenton High School for Girls,
hope the model could be used to carry out search and
rescue missions after future natural disasters.
The pair were delighted after winning this year’s National
Junior Robocup Rescue Line Competition, beating
an entirely male field. The international stage of the
competition will be held this week in Nagoya, Japan, where
the girls will compete against representatives from more
than 30 countries.
The girls initially struggled to raise the cash to cover flights
and accommodation, but Rentalcars.com, the world’s
biggest online car rental service, offered to sponsor them
for the duration of their trip. Anna said: “We started
working on Alan in a robotics club at school. We are self-
taught in code and we built him using old materials that
had been in school for about ten years. The club started
with about eleven of us but everyone else dropped out
except me and Lilly. We never imagined we would be
flying out to Japan to compete in a competition when we
first started. We competed in the national competition in
March and we were the only girls in our group. We could
tell people were shocked when we turned up. People just
don’t expect girls to be into this kind of thing.”
Alan operates by running on a track and navigating itself
around obstacles such as bricks and pens, and the girls
hope the model could be used to move around fallen
buildings and rubble in future.
Lilly said: “In the future Alan could be developed more to
have thermal sensors, then he would be able to detect and
save victims after natural disasters. Our ultimate goal is for
him to be able to save lives.”
After hearing about Anna and Lilly’s need for sponsorship,
Rentalcars.com contacted the girls and offered to stump up
£3,000 to cover expenses.
Ryan Cheyne, Director of People from Rentalcars.com
said: “We think Anna and Lilly are really inspirational.
When we heard about Alan we made contact to see if we
could help because we thought it was a great opportunity
to encourage young people to get interested and involved
in technology. We are incredibly proud to be helping out
with Anna and Lilly, and of course now the whole business
is rooting for them. It feels a bit like Alan vs Goliath, but
whatever happens it’s a huge experience for them and a
great opportunity to inspire some other youngsters.”
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