Four young robotics enthusiasts from the Isle of Man have represented the island on the international stage after travelling to Croatia for a major European competition.

Sam Cooke, Jiayue Kang, Adam Shimmin and Stanley Maltby competed at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Open Championship Europe in Zagreb from October 13 to 16.

The event brought together young competitors from around the world, with the Manx contingent taking part in the Elementary and Senior categories.

Sam and Jiayue represented the island in the Senior category, while Adam and Stanley competed in the Elementary division.

For all four, it was their first experience of international competition, following months of preparation and success at earlier events.

Their journey began with a regional competition in Edinburgh earlier this year, before they progressed to the national finals in Leicester and secured places at the European championship.

The youngsters developed their skills through Code Club Isle of Man, which provides training and mentoring in coding, robotics, engineering and problem-solving.

Alongside learning how to programme robots to complete specific tasks, the Senior team developed more advanced engineering skills.

These included designing and 3D-printing components, incorporating custom electronics and programming their robot to tackle a series of challenges.

Steve Wilson, who trained and mentored the teams throughout their preparations, said he was delighted by what the young competitors had achieved.

He said: ‘It's remarkable they have been so successful. There will be a great deal of benefit from seeing the wide world, what other people, other children, other members in the wider context can achieve.’

Mr Wilson said the progress was particularly encouraging given that the club had only been participating in the competition for six months.

However, he explained that the organisation had spent several years developing its robotics activities and building the expertise needed to compete.

The trip to Croatia was made possible through sponsorship from Danucore, whose support extended beyond helping to fund the journey.

The company's founder and chief executive, Rob Halliday-Stein, travelled to Zagreb alongside Richard Wild and Aaron Ghani to support the teams during the championship.

Code Club Isle of Man thanked Danucore, its volunteer coaches, families and the wider community for helping make the opportunity possible.

The organisation has supported people of all ages in developing coding, robotics and digital skills since 2014.

It hopes experiences such as the European championship will encourage more young people to explore technology and engineering, build their confidence and consider future careers in STEM subjects.

For the four competitors, the event marked an important milestone and an opportunity to test their skills against young robotics enthusiasts from across the world.

Anyone interested in supporting Code Club Isle of Man can donate at codeclub.im/donations, while sponsorship enquiries can be sent to [email protected] or [email protected].