RoboCon 2025 is a 'flaming' success

The 2025 edition was themed Dragon’s Lair, and brought together twelve teams of young engineers from across the Cambridge area - including several local secondary schools - to compete with robots built from Hills-developed kits.

The kits used in RoboCon are built and developed from scratch by Hills Road students, then loaned out to participating teams. This year, kits included a "BrainBox" built at Hills using a Raspberry Pi and custom software developed by our talented students.

Teams were challenged to collect cubes and secure gems in a fast-paced arena full of strategic twists. The competing robots featured creative engineering solutions—from suction-powered cranes to copper-piped hydraulics—and imaginative designs, including fearsome dragons and duck-themed bots.

“This is a huge project that takes months of planning,” said Oliver Corrigan, Hills Road student and Robotics Leader 2025. “It’s amazing to help create an event where students can build real engineering skills, solve problems creatively, and have a lot of fun in the process.”

King’s Ely Team 2 claimed first place with an impressive 26 points in the final round, closely followed by Terry’s Trainers and The Little Devils. In addition to the main competition, special awards sponsored by local tech companies celebrated innovation, perseverance, and thematic design.

Thanks to the passion of its student organisers, the dedication of Hills Road staff, and the generosity of sponsors including Darktrace, Frontier Developments, Redgate, and Microsoft, RoboCon continues to thrive.