Racing cars and robots are taking over the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to recognise the achievements of the region’s young engineers.

Last year, the AMRC teamed up with not-for-profit organisation Primary Engineer (www.primaryengineer.com) to develop local teachers’ engineering skills and inspire children to see themselves as the problem-solvers and innovators of the future.

This saw teachers from around the Sheffield City Region partnered by engineers from the AMRC and shown how to deliver activities that bring engineering to life in the classroom.

Since the launch at the AMRC last November, enthusiastic pupils from 13 primary schools have been busy designing and building racing cars that they will put to the test at a special event on 2 July.

The youngsters made cars out of shoe boxes and, depending on their age, built their own chassis (with an electric motor and a gearing system), using simple tools like saws and drills.

A Secondary Engineer celebration will follow, with pupils from four city-region secondary schools descending on the AMRC Training Centre to put their hydraulically powered robotic-arm creations through their paces.

AMRC Training Centre director Nikki Jones said: “We are looking forward to hosting the celebration event and seeing how taking engineering into classrooms has captured the imaginations of the region’s young people and given them an understanding of what it means to be an engineer.”

The day culminates with a Leaders Award celebration to announce winners of a competition that challenged school children from across Yorkshire and the Humber to answer the question: ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’

A free-to-attend exhibition of entries from all the participating schools will be held at the AMRC Training Centre on 3 July.