Pupils' basketball-playing robot wins contest

Lots of us are getting used to seeing robots do more and more, from dancing to helping around the house.

But have you ever heard of a robot playing basketball before?

Well one doing just that has been built by students at a school in Northern Ireland - and it has won first prize at the First Tech Challenge robotics competition.

They travelled from Lisburn to show off their invention at the contest held in London's Copper Box Arena, coming top out of 48 schools from across the UK.

But sadly the date of their summer A-Level exams means they won't get the chance to compete in the European final, taking place in the Netherlands in June.

One member of the team, Aaron said they spent "hundreds of hours" designing, building and programming the robot.

But said he "loved working on it", calling it "one of the highlights of my last year in school".

Rebekah, who also helped to build the robot, has been sharing her "passion" for robotics, by holding a workshop that local primary schools could attend.

It gave other pupils a chance to use robots that team had pre-programmed.

She said:" They really enjoyed that and we really enjoyed being able to share our knowledge with the children.

"So it's really great that we can share... what we've learned and hopefully share our passion as well."