A team of budding engineers from Dyffryn Taf School in Whitland travelled to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to compete against 25 of the top schools in the UK in the National Finals of the Elite Engineering Programme (EEP) Space Challenge. The team of six 13-year-old boffins had to design, build and programme their innovative LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robot to carry out a series of seven difficult missions in the Robot Challenge. The competition included collecting rock samples, freeing a stranded robot, launching a rocket to Mars and activating a space station. The team produced one of the highest scores of the day, achieving an impressive 37 out of 40, and collecting an extra five bonus points for successfully completing all seven missions in under three minutes. In addition to building their robot, the team also had to research how humans can survive in space whilst travelling to Mars and give a presentation on their findings to a panel of leading engineers. Mark Ford, the deputy headteacher at Dyffryn Taf, said: "It is a great success for Dyffryn Taf to be the only school in Wales to make it through to the National Finals and to achieve second place highlights the dedication and enthusiasm of the children and staff in preparing for the competition". The Lego project has been so successful in school that Dyffryn Taf are now delivering the Lego project as an integrated part of the Design Technology and ICT curriculum in Year 8.