Three South African schools – Reddam House Bedfordview, Reddford House The Hills and Reddam House Umhlanga – have earned top honours in the global Inspired Builds robotics competition, a technology challenge involving 111 schools across 24 countries. The annual competition tasks students with designing, building and coding solutions to real-world problems, with entries judged on creativity, technical execution and relevance across age categories.

In the 11–12 age group, Reddam House Bedfordview’s learners Syrus Stoltz (12) and James Birch (11) won their category with the Rhino Protector, a camouflaged concept robot designed to help deter poaching. Using an ultrasonic sensor, a trip line and an alarm, the prototype explores how technology could support wildlife protection. The idea was inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goal centred on Life on Land and by the learners’ awareness of poaching threats in South Africa.

In the 12–13 age group, a five-learner team from Reddford House The Hills in Pretoria secured first place with the GCR3000, a garbage-collecting robot built around a movable claw that picks up litter and deposits it into a bin. The students chose land pollution as their focus after seeing its impact on their school environment. Their project emphasised perseverance as they rebuilt the robot from scratch following an early error, strengthening their understanding of teamwork, coding and mechanical design.

Also in the 12–13 category, Reddam House Umhlanga Grade 8 learner Sinead Samputh (13) won a global title with Baymin, a low-cost health-assistant robot designed to help children access simple health checks. Inspired by her weekly volunteering at a community homework club, Sinead created a hybrid system that pairs Arduino components with an EV3 Mindstorms arm. Baymin offers a forehead temperature scan and a short symptom screen, using binary logic to suggest likely conditions in child-friendly language.

Across the three schools, teachers highlighted the competition as a powerful platform for applied problem-solving and creativity in STEM. They also noted that each project reflects issues students see in their communities, from environmental responsibility to wildlife protection and access to basic healthcare.

The Inspired Education Group, which operates 121 premium schools worldwide, positions robotics and coding as central to its focus on future-ready learning. This year’s achievements place South Africa prominently among global innovators in the Inspired network.

Ravi Nadasen, CEO of Inspired Schools Africa, said, “Each of these projects shows what happens when young people are encouraged to think boldly and apply their learning to real challenges. Their achievements are a reminder that innovation does not start in boardrooms but in classrooms where curiosity is nurtured and students are supported to experiment, collaborate and solve problems with purpose. We are incredibly proud of our South African learners for standing out on a global stage and for demonstrating the kind of thinking that will shape the future.”