Wick High School pupils light up UK Apps for Good finals with bike success

They won the Emerging Technology award at the UK Apps for Good finals in London on Wednesday night after wowing the competition judges with their Light Bike – which deploys smart lights to help cyclists safe and visible.

The pupils – Nicholas Mann (13), from Ulbster, Caleb James (14), from Kirk, Lewis Buchan (14), Russell Mackenzie (13) and Steven Gunn (16), all Wick – were led by their computing science teacher Chris Aitken.

Speaking after the finals at London’s Rich Mix venue, Mr Aitken said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have won the Emerging Technology award at the UK Apps for Good finals. The team has put in so much effort over the past five months to get to this point and this completely paid off today.

“They presented in front of experts from all areas of the cutting-edge tech sector, from Spotify to Salesforce, and all the judges were completely blown away by the product they produced. One judge even took the bike for a spin around the presentation hall.

“We’re really grateful to Wick Community Council for supporting us to take our product from a fixed prototype to something that can be used by commuters and road cyclists to make them more visible.

“We look forward to working with Apps for Good to get support to further develop the Light Bike.

“Who knows what will happen next? You might even be able to buy your own one!”

The pupils had been working on the concept of improving cycling safety since January and came up with the idea of covering a bike in Led lights.

The bike was coded using a BBC micro:bit and buttons were wired up to have functions such as working indicators, brake lights – which turn the whole bike red – and a speedometer, as well as customisable colours.

Pupils taking part in Apps for Good explore all aspects of product development, from the initial idea and programming to product design and marketing.

Mr Aitken says he hopes to build on the success of the Light Bike by setting up an Inventors’ Club in Wick High and possibly a CoderDojo – part of a network of computer programming clubs – for primary children.

This week’s category win was the latest in a series of Apps for Good achievements by teams from Wick High.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky to have seen success now at the Apps for Good Awards for six years running – an unbeaten record,” Mr Aitken said.

“We’ve seen our ideas evolve from the creation of wireframe prototypes to full-blown apps and we’re now pushing the boundaries further with the introduction of Internet of Things, physical computing, and very soon we’ll be starting machine learning / artificial intelligence with our pupils.

“As always, I’m excited for what the future may bring for Wick High School pupils.”