TWO teams of students from two Suffolk schools have won through to the national finals of a robotics championship.The youngsters took both first and second place at the regional finals of the RoboCup Secondary Dance competition held at the Open University, Milton Keynes, sending them through to the RoboCup Junior National Finals to be held in Shrewsbury on March 28.

TWO teams of students from two Suffolk schools have won through to the national finals of a robotics championship.

The youngsters took both first and second place at the regional finals of the RoboCup Secondary Dance competition held at the Open University, Milton Keynes, sending them through to the RoboCup Junior National Finals to be held in Shrewsbury on March 28.

And the judges were so impressed with one of the teams, called Swan Song, that they have been offered places on an Open University Undergraduate course in robotics.

The Swan Song team produced their own robotic version of Swan Lake. The team - Amberfield School year ten students Jenny Blay, Sophie Kennelley, Rebecca Hasler, Elizabeth Grinnell and Lucy Homer, and Farlingaye High School pupils Tristan Hughes, Mark Evans, Josie Hughes, Genevieve Hughes - used a wide range of different technologies and took first prize.

The Monster Pause team from Amberfield - year seven students Laura Purser, Hope Lavelle, Katherine Barr, Eleonor Lord, Isher Mudhar, Emily-Rose Edgell, Katie Homer, Amy Hasler, Alice Robinson - choreographed a “dance school for monsters” using Lego Mindstorms NXT technology to design and programme their robots and gained second prize.

The winners of the RoboCup Junior National finals will represent the UK at the international finals at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, America.