Sonardyne welcomes trailblazing members of UK’s largest all-girls robotics club to its Yateley HQ

Sonardyne, an underwater tech firm based in Yateley, welcomed a group from the Bournemouth School for Girls (BSG) Robotics Club earlier this week.

The cohort included five girls from team Ultraviolet, who recently competed against nearly 200 teams from around the world at the FIRST Global Challenge competition in Athens.

They were the first ever all-girls team from the UK and the first UK team to receive an individual award – the Katherine Johnson Award for Engineering Documentation, which recognised their work in recording the design and production of their robot, Chimera.

Team Ultraviolet developed the robot over nine months before a UK competition in June – which they won – and then had a further nine weeks to prepare for Athens – where they won eight out of their eleven matches.

Sonardyne invited the girls to its Blackbushe facility, where they were given a tour of the manufacturing, test and production facilities before meeting managing director Graham Brown and some key female figures within the business.

Claire Bennett, recruitment specialist, said: “It was our absolute pleasure to welcome these young ladies to Sonardyne.

“Their enthusiasm for everything they saw and heard was amazing.

“We’re dedicated to encouraging young people into engineering careers to bring in fresh, innovative ideas and ensure the future of the industry.

“We hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we enjoyed hosting them!”

Before they left, team Ultraviolet were presented with £1000 by Graham Brown to help fund their future robotic development and competitions.

• sonardyne.com