Spraying robot

Team Gieter 5.0 of primary school ’t Schöppert from Hengelo won the main price at the 7th edition of the challenge. Stefan Nijwening, representing Water Board Vechtstromen, gave the tech-kids from Twente a day trip to science museum NEMO in Amsterdam. The water board provided the sustainability challenge this year. Team ‘de DDA’ of primary school Dalton Hengelo Zuid won the main prize for the most beautiful video vlog.

25 teams from primary schools in Twente worked on tackling the provided challenge from January until April. The solution of team Gieter 5.0 is a smart and automatic robot that can spray plants. According to Stefan Nijwening, it is an idea that is characteristic to Twente. Climate change causes increasingly frequent periods of extreme drought, to which this robot is the solution. The robot collects rainwater and distributes it in gardens using sensors. Stefan Nijwening: “This team has come up with ideas and has built and programmed their solution. I’ve seen many good ideas and analyses about flooding, drought, energy and even for plastic soup in seas, rivers and streams. There are real water managers and engineers of the future among these students!"

All teams were also challenged to create a fascinating video blog about the realization of their design and installation, which shows the team solution as beautiful and clear as possible. The jury chair awarded the winning team with a workshop in the Lego Education Innovation Studio at Hogeschool Saxion for their entire class.

During the break, the students could get acquainted with science and technology on the test square. There were various experiments from Science on tour, the Vechtstromen Water Board, Pentair and Saxion University of Applied Sciences in which the students could either watch or participate.

In short: a fun day about science, technology and our future!

Next year’s sustainable theme will be ‘Textile’. The tech kids in 6th and 7th grades of the 250 primary schools in Twente will be challenged to develop creative and innovative solutions to textile-related challenges of companies in Twente. Such a challenge contributes to the global need for sustainable earth management solutions. Another example of how Twente contributes is with its overarching “Earth is calling… Twente” theme. By expressly linking the urgent ecological, economic and social challenges facing the world with Twente, new solutions for a better future can be found among those who are the future: the inventors, designers and technical nerds to be, Generation Z in Twente. This is how technology education remains a priority in Twente.

Are you a company or entrepreneur and will you challenge all primary schools in Twente next year with a textile-related challenge? Send an email to info@twente.com. Also, if you are a primary school, register for the RED Engineers Challenge 2020 in time!