The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is sponsoring the team to make the trip possible. The children - Alex O’Carroll, Allen Yang, Sofia Armitage, Jacob Sibanda and Kirin Harrington - were given the good news on Wednesday during a special visit to the AMRC’s flagship Factory 2050 facility, home to the Integrated Manufacturing Group.
The children won their places in Shanghai after scoring high at a WER competition held at Sheffield University in July, where they competed against 50 UK children and 50 of the best robotics students on a visit from China to build a robot and programme it to complete certain tasks.
Ben Morgan, head of IMG, welcomed the children to the factory. He said the AMRC has been following their story closely and wanted to help them with their quest to reach Shanghai. “You will be ambassadors in China for the Sheffield City Region, spreading the word that this is the place to come for engineering and industrial digital technology. We’re delighted to be able to sponsor such a talented team of young people from the region’s schools, and to show the world that engineering and our region has very bright future if we work together.
“The team at the AMRC and the University of Sheffield – and I think the whole of Sheffield and Yorkshire – wish you well and all the best in the competition and we’re sure you will have fun. We are doing our bit to help make that happen, it would fabulous if others could show their support too,” he said to the children.
