Robotics vote

A former student of the Nicolson Institute is taking part in a UK-wide, online competition called ‘I’m an engineer, get me out of here!”

Siobhan Duncan (pictured above) from Stornoway is now studying for a PhD in robotics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.

The 25-year-old has a profile on the website, answering questions and having live, text-based chats with pupils across the UK. At the end of the competition, school pupils will vote for their favourite engineer.

Siobhan said: “It would be great to hear from pupils across the Hebrides, particularly girls, who are under-represented in robotics and engineering.

“Robotics is going to change the world in the way that the microchip and the internet did, so women and girls need to be part of the team behind it.

“Otherwise these new technologies will be shaped and designed without female experiences or perspectives.”

She added: “We also need to think about what kind of robots might be particularly useful for islanders, and start influencing for research and development in that area.

“I’ll be online to answer any and all questions about robotics and engineering and I’m hoping to get lots of questions from Stornoway and beyond.”

Siobhan’s research focuses on swarm robotics where hundreds, thousands and even millions of robots can collaborate. For example, a swarm could be used in search and rescue scenarios to avoid putting human lives at risk.

The competition website is at I’m an engineer, get me out of here!

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