Gadget Master

All hail the new Young Engineer of the Year! Congratulations to one Andrew Cowan - a Gadget Master of the first order - who was named Young Engineer of the Year at the British Science Association's Big Bang Fair. This was held in London to mark the start of National Science and Engineering Week.

Andrew won the award for his Search and Rescue Robot, which was built during his A level Systems and Control coursework at Sutton Grammar School. The project took two years.

Pictured is (l-r): Kate Bellingham (engineer and television presenter), Professor Brian Cox (particle physicist and television presenter), Hannah Eastwood (Young Scientist of the Year award-winner), and Professor John Beddington (Government Chief Scientific Adviser).

Now a student of the University of Southampton, he is in the first year of an MEng degree in Electronics and Wireless Communications, proudly boasts the university (at the School of Electronics and Computer Science).

The large tracked vehicle he designed and built is intended for use in disaster zones, and is fitted out with a wireless camera (with tilt, pan and zoom), and a collection of wireless sensors including gas sampling, reports the university.

About 20 microchips control all the sensors, radio links and functions (including lights, a siren and water cannon). Powerful enough to pull a car, apparently, the robot weighs around 80kg and is powered by two 750W motors.

"I'm extremely honoured and proud to be awarded such a prestigious title," said Andrew. The standard of entries was so high which made the finals incredibly tense at times. I'm now really looking forward to representing engineering for young people and I hope my project inspires lots of other people to do the same and pursue a career in engineering."

All the finalists

All the Young Engineer for Britain finalists (a rival competition, please note) were also announced at the Big Bang Fair in London.

Aseem Mishra from Hull won the age 16-19 group with his drum kit trousers which allow the wearer to beat out a rhythm on their legs.

Although a new project, the technology was adapted from his drum light project with which he won a younger category in the same competition last year.

In the 14-16 age group, Hemang Rishi from Winchester won with an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner that can find its own way around a room using a number of sensors.

A team from Newry: Shea Quinn, Caolan Magee and Gavin Fox, came top amongst 12-14 year-olds with CPR Assistant which is an electronic device integrated in a thin blanket which is placed on the victims chest to guide a rescuer through the emergency resuscitation procedure.

Alan Egan from Birmingham designed a multimedia router that allows content from various inputs to be directed to multiple outputs using a simple and intuitive colour-based interface, for which he was awarded the Duke of York's Award for Most Creative use of Technology.

Intel also made an award, to Roxanne Pollard of Bristol for her cycling helmet that allows the wearer to indicate their presence and driving directions whilst keeping control of the bike.

Casey Turner, Leigh Roberts, Darcie Lacey and Martha Gregory of Maltby were runners-up in the 12-14 age group with Trickii Twister: a game that develops hand eye-coordination skills, but needs no batteries.

The 16-19 year old award for manufacture and finish went to Joe Costello of Cheltenham for Pasta Pal which "improves the process of cooking pasta or a variety of boiled food products", said the organisers.

For the 14-16 age group, the manufacture and finish award went to Charles Barton of London for an alarm clock which uses light to simulate a natural sunrise called SunLight.

There were also awards for product development and marketability which Luca Volpe won in the 16-19 age group for Ladder Aid, a device which attaches to a latter to help position it as the recommended safe angle, and to warn pedestrians of the ladders presence.

Emily Bentley from Hull cam top in the same category for 14-16 year-olds with an alarm, originally designed and built for a mentally handicapped child to wear, which plays a melody if the child strays too far away from the parents, allowing them to locate their missing offspring.

Another category of award was presented for design, innovation and presentation

For a beach boat sailing simulator, Bleddyn Môn took home the 16-19 age group award.

Amongst 14-16 year olds, Callum Lawson cam first with an educational robotics kit designed to aid teaching of GCSE Design and Technology and develop interest in programming.

The kit must be soldered together and programmed by the students who follow a series of instructions and guides.

The award ceremony was hosted by Kate Bellingham, president of Young Engineers, and particle physicist Professor Brian Cox

They both presented awards as did: Ken Sanders, chairman of Young Engineers; Ollie Althorpe, chief executive of ST Microelectronics; Brian Fishwick, Master of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers; and Stuart Ellins, chief executive of Young Engineers.

You can read full details of all the winners on the Big Bang Fair website. We say congratulations to one and all!