A TEAM OF SCHOOLBOYS from Dublin have won a European award for building a robot and app to remind people to take vital medicines at regular intervals throughout the day.

The boys from Jobstown in Tallaght took a top award at the First Lego League robotics tournament in Paderborn in Germany, beating 52 teams from 34 countries to win an award specifically recognising their team spirit.

The team of seven boys – aged between 11 and 16 – designed and built a Lego robot, which worked with a smartphone app which alerted elderly people that it was the appropriate time to take their daily medication.

The app, which works through voice recognition, also reminds users of their appointments and other daily tasks.

The boys clubbed together at the Citywise after-school robotics club in Jobstown, and went forward to the European title having won the Irish title in January.

“What really impressed the judges was the way the lads worked together, their continual good spirit and their good humour despite the pressure of competition,” said team-co-ordinator Christopher Smyth.

“They were a real team,” he added.

Team member 16-year-old Himanshu Singh, from Ard Mór, said the standard of robots at the competition had been very high – but that the team had learned a lot from the experience and hoped to use its new knowledge in next year’s contest.

The team was sponsored by software firm SAP Ireland, which employs 1,200 people across Ireland, and whose staff helped to train the team.

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