A little bit of Lego, and lots of imagination, help pupils to engineering award

A few pieces of Lego and some wonderful imagination have helped guide three Donegal primary school children to a national engineering award.

Alex Murphy, Georgia Green and Will Crawford are third class pupils at Robertson National School in Ballintra and their unique design for a futuristic car has gone down a treat.

They have been crowned national winners of Engineers Ireland’s STEPS Young Engineers Award for their Hydro-Electro Storm project, a solar and rain powered car which aims to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.

The three friends entered the project under the name ‘Robertson Eco-Roadsters’ and their Hydro-Electro Storm operates using solar and hydraulic energy.  

Will Crawford, Alex Murphy and Georgia Green get a big cheer from teachers and pupils - Photo Brian Farrell for Coalesce

The innovative two-seater car was developed with the Irish climate in mind and comprises a creative roof system to collect and funnel rainwater to a hydraulic pump and solar panels to absorb sunlight to help power the car. 

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“The STEPS Young Engineers Award competition encouraged us to dream big, be creative and help engineer solutions for our community and we are delighted to be crowned winners of this year’s competition,” the team members said.

“We wanted to create an environmentally friendly car for the Irish climate, and we are incredibly proud of our Hydro-Electro Storm prototype. 

“Using Lego, a construction kit, lots of imagination and teamwork, it was amazing to see our idea on paper come to life as the hydraulic module and solar panel both worked effectively to power the car. We would like to thank our teacher Ms Patterson and local engineer Gerard McGranagahan who inspired and motivated us throughout the project.”

School principal Dawn Somerville and teacher Wendy Patterson pictured with the winning team members

The Robertson National School pupils faced stiff competition from 428 schools from across Ireland who submitted almost 500 projects to this year’s STEPS Young Engineers Award.

The competition is co-ordinated by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - funded by the Department of Education and industry leaders Arup, the EPA, ESB, Intel and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).  

The nationwide primary school competition encourages third and fourth-class pupils and their teachers to explore the world of engineering by developing an engineering project that would help to improve their local community.