Limerick pupils wrestle their way to victory in robotics competition

STUDENTS from one Limerick school wrestled their way to victory at the 8th Annual Analog Devices Primary School Robotics competition.

The day-long STEM-inspired challenge, organised by Analog Devices Inc (ADI), saw over 120 primary school children go to battle with their self-designed sumo wrestling robots. 

Teams of children, between 10 and 12, from 32 schools across Limerick City and County gathered at the Analog campus in Raheen for the annual competition.

They worked towards building and programming their own robots before entering the ring and pitting their robotic creations against each other, sumo-style, that afternoon in a series of knock-out rounds. Points were awarded for teamwork as well as design and innovation.

Grace Burton, Sadhbh Magnier and CJ Enright from Scoil Mhuire in  Broadford won the overall competition and Cian Flanagan, Caelan Tan, David Cronin and Aiden Danagher from Scoil Fhionáin, Kilfinane (pictured below) were runners up.  

Announcing the winners, Bernard Stenson, Director, Process Development Engineering at ADI, said: “Through our education outreach programmes, we hope to inspire the next generation of innovators. The primary school robotics program is one of our most popular programmes and it’s easy to see why. Today, we saw children work together as a team to engineer solutions.  That is quite remarkable. Congratulations to the winners as well as everyone who took part, their enthusiasm was infectious."

Ann O’Sullivan, Director, Process Development & Resilience at ADI added: “Access to STEM Education is very important to ADI. Through the primary school robotics programme, students from all backgrounds get access to the fundamentals of robotic design and high-quality STEM education. We were delighted to work together with LearnIt to encourage children to embrace their curiosity and problem-solving skills in a truly fun environment.”  

Now in its eight year, more than 6,000 students across Limerick city and country have participated in the Analog Devices Primary School Robotics Competition.   

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Previous winners included Scoil Ide (2015), St Patrick's Girls NS (2016), Our Lady Queen of Peace NS (2017), Killoughteen NS (2018), Scoil Mhuire, Broadford (2019), St Patricks NS, Bruree (2020), as well as St Patrick’s National School, Dublin Road (2022). 

The schools who participated this year were: 

Ahane NS 
Caherconlish NS 
Caherline NS 
Castleconnell NS 
Christ the Saviour NS, Ballingarry 
Crecora NS 
Donoughmore NS 
Dromtrasna NS 
Gaelscoil an Ráithín 
Killoughteen NS 
Knockea NS 
Limerick East Educate Together NS 
Lisnagry NS 
Monagea NS 
Monaleen NS 
Murroe NS 
Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Rosbrien 
Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Janesboro 
Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Roxborough 
Scoil Fhionáin, Kilfinane 
Scoil Íde, Corbally 
Scoil Mháthair Dé, South Circular Road 
Scoil Mhuire, Broadford 
Scoil Mocheallóg, Kilmallock 
Scoil Naomh Iósaf, Adare 
St. Patrick's BNS, Dublin Road 
St. Patrick's NS Bruree 
St. Fergus' NS, Glin 
St. James' NS, Cappagh 
St. Joseph's N.S.,  Ballybrown 
St. Paul’s NS, Dooradoyle