Pupils at work in masterclass Mechanical Engineering

A group of twenty pupils started working on the assignment 'Design your own Battle Bot' in a masterclass Mechanical Engineering at VU Amsterdam. 

During the masterclass, the pupils immersed themselves in the world of engineering and devised a lift system with which they would try to knock each other down in the final battle. In preparation for this, they attended short lectures and workshops on manufacturing and strength theory and made several calculation assignments at the VU campus. The 4, 5 and 6 VWO pupils came from different schools in the Amsterdam area.

The masterclass was organised by students from the Mechanical Engineering programme of VU Amsterdam and the UT in collaboration with Bètapartners, the school network for science education in the Amsterdam, Noord-Holland and Flevoland region. The workshops were delivered by Mechanical Engineering students and teachers.

With a full house and enthusiastic students and teachers, the masterclass seems ripe for repetition. ‘I really enjoyed it. You see that it really does go deeper here than at school. And just ramming a robot into another robot is also great fun.’

Watch the video of the final battle here