A Week in the Robotics Lab – Year 10 Placement
Last week, we were delighted to welcome Toni, a Year 10 student from West Grantham Church of England Secondary Academy, to L-CAS for a week-long work experience placement. Over five days, Toni got a hands-on introduction to what life in a robotics research lab is like.
What Toni built
By the end of the week, Toni had coded a robot that could translate between languages — a complete project that pulled together programming, integration with off-the-shelf technology, and a fair bit of debugging. He used Xyloh Ohbot — a small, expressive desktop robot designed for learning about programming and human-robot interaction. As Toni put it, “with the right technology you can make coding robots easy”. The iteration algorithm was the trickiest part, and Toni worked through it by trial and error as most researchers do!
New discoveries
The week introduced Toni to a whole range of new concepts: 3D printers, robot simulators, the mechanical parts of robots, and the idea that robots can have far more degrees of freedom than they appear to. Just as eye-opening, though, was seeing the parts of a robotics lab that aren’t about the robots themselves — the paperwork, the theoretical foundations, and the sheer number of branches the field is split into. It’s a good reminder that robotics sits at the intersection of many foundational fields such as: engineering, computer science, mathematics, ethics and human-centred design.
The L-CAS environment
Toni spent the time learning from all the projects that L-CAS students, researchers and academics are working on. When asked what he liked most about his time with us, Toni’s answer said it all:
“The people, so many different perspectives on robotics.”
It’s a lovely reflection of what makes L-CAS tick: a mix of backgrounds, disciplines and ideas all pointed at the same broad question of how robots and people can work together well.
Advice for future placement students
Toni’s message to any other Year 10 considering a robotics placement:
“If you’re passionate about it, go for it. Be on your best behaviour and be willing to learn. Don’t take it for granted.”
Wise words. Thank you, Toni, for spending the week with us!