Land speed record inspires challenge

From L-R: Mike Ford from Bloodhound Education, IT students Jamie Nicol and Trisha Oruga and Gerry Heather, also from Bloodhound Education. NNL-160325-090648001

The Level Three IT students put their coding skills to the test for the event run by the Bloodhound Super Sonic Car (SCC) education team.

They worked in teams to programme a VEX robot around a course and use its grab hands to remove a rocket from the rear of a model car.

The exercise was designed to simulate a real-life scenario which the Bloodhound team will face during their world record attempt in the South African desert.

Student Jamie Nicol, aged 19, said: “We have done this sort of scratch coding before, but it is good to apply it to a practical project. It gives you a better understanding of how much programming goes into projects and the problem solving involved.”

Bloodhound SSC is a high-technology UK project to design and build a car that will break the 1,000mph barrier. Based on the success of this attempt, they will schedule a 1,000mph record attempt.

Gerry Heather of the Bloodhound education team, said: “One of the key objectives of the Bloodhound project is to inspire the next generation about science, technology, engineering and maths. Projects such as this help students understand the importance of coding.”