Three Days at a Robot Hackathon: From Parts to Friendship

According to Robohub, the author attended the UK RAS STEPS MicroMaze Robot Hackathon at the Institute for Safe Autonomy, University of York, from August 25th to 27th, 2026. The brief sounded simple: build a small autonomous robot and make it survive increasingly difficult mazes. But once hands-on, the team started from a box of parts and a laser-cut chassis, involving sensors, motors, a Raspberry Pi Pico W, MicroPython, and plenty of debugging, eventually getting the robot through the maze. The author admits the technical part wasn't even their favorite. Between building, debugging, failed runs, and laughing at their own mistakes, three teammates who had just met became genuine friends. On the final day, they explored York together, eating and talking. The author thanks organizer Rob Woolley and the Institute and the wider UK RAS STEPS team for creating opportunities for Research Technical Professionals. This information comes from the original source and was organized by AI.