Somersfield Academy students faced pupils from more than 60 schools in Boston for the Framingham Robotics Tournament last Sunday.

For their first international contest since 2019, students trained on a new platform, the Vex 5 metal system, for weekly 90-minute sessions since November.

A spokeswoman said: “Many competing teams had been preparing since May, committing up to ten hours per week.

“Despite the compressed timeline, Somersfield students demonstrated resilience and adaptability.

“Arriving in Boston with their robot still under development, the team completed final builds and refinements ahead of competition.

“Additional preparation took place at Walsh School, where Somersfield students were granted early access to facilities and collaborated with local teams who shared tactical insights and design feedback.”

The Somersfield team overcame early challenges, formed alliances in the knockout stages and placed tenth in the second qualifying round — finishing eighth overall out of 31 teams in their division.

Russell Peters, Somersfield IB physics teacher and head of robotics, said: “This competition was about more than rankings — our students had to learn a new engineering system in a matter of weeks, problem-solve under pressure and collaborate at a very high level.”

He added: “After being away from international competition for seven years, it was exciting to return, and we’re already looking forward to next year.”

Somersfield participant Mateusz Dudek-Mealy said: “My favourite bit was the day of the competition. I enjoyed seeing all the different robots and designs from the other teams.

“Visiting Walsh School was cool, they let us practise in their robotics lab.

“I’m inspired to do more with robotics and I want to compete again next year.”

Ruston Selley, Colton Kearns, G’en Bell and Evan Nappée also took part.