Albyn Pupils Head to Singapore with a Robot Designed to Restore Scotland’s Forests

The trio have been working tirelessly sketching, coding, and testing what they call ‘ThistleDroid’ - a one-of-the-kind robot built to make reforestation faster, smarter and more sustainable in Scotland. Within a month the team had developed a prototype of a reforestation robot using local green spaces to test their GPS, radio transmitter and seed planting.

We caught up with Adi as he reflected on the process and their recent success...

“We had to come up with a sustainable design, as it's being used for reforestation so we wanted to keep it as eco-friendly as possible. We decided to use a battery instead of electricity as it's better for the environment. We built it using old plastic boxes to give these materials a second life before disposing of them.”

Emphasising their Scotland-first mindset, Adi shared: “Scotland is very well known for its forests and we want to preserve this and protect it for many years to come because not only are they a good source of oxygen, they are safe spaces as well and they’re beautiful. We cannot survive a day without them.”

Behind the project is an abundance of teamwork, communication and learning that goes far beyond the classroom.

“We had online meetings everyday because we needed to keep in touch with how everything was going and to make sure there was still progress. When it came to the actual wiring and coding we would meet up every few days and worked on it until we were tired!”

The International World Robotics Olympiad will take place in Singapore later this month, bringing together young engineers from over 90 countries to compete and collaborate. Britain’s team, including the Albyn duo, will present their robot’s design to an international panel of judges and participate in challenge rounds under time pressure over a 3-day programme.

For Albyn School, this achievement strengthens its commitment to STEM, engineering and wider community impact. Through hands-on learning, dedicated teaching, and an emphasis on creative problem-solving, Albyn encourages pupils to think beyond the classroom and apply their skills to real-world challenges. Their project exemplifies how Albyn pupils are equipped to become leaders, innovators, and global citizens of the future.

The School extends its very best wishes to Adi, Jay and Anjishnu representing Great Britain in the competition, with the full support and encouragement of the entire school community behind them.

Photo courtesy of Aberdeen Live.