Year 10 pupils attended an event hosted by Schneider Electric in Plymouth this week as part of a global drive to encourage women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. Pupils met Aleks, Steve and the team behind their latest range of Wiser Smart Home products. They were given a tour of the factory to see every stage, from raw materials coming into the warehouse, to manufacturing, assembly and testing, to the new products boxed and ready to go out.
Pupils explored Schneider products using a mobile app to control lights, blinds and climate control, and were challenged to develop a new product to sit in this existing range. Working in teams, they brainstormed, designed and developed a product idea before presenting to employees from marketing, engineering and finance. Original and inspirational ideas from child safe smart home controls to lock monitoring and remote-control systems impressed the panel of judges.
The final part of the day saw pupils complete a Challenger workshop from the Engineering Development Trust using miniature wheeled robots called Ozobots to code and create a route through a town or city that could be followed autonomously by the robot whilst also controlling its speed and making it do tricks.
Article written by Sam Lawrence, Design and Technology Teacher
More photographs can be found on Facebook.
