Information for schools

Our next annual Taster Course is on Wednesday 6 March 2013.

A day's programme of demonstrations, talks, and practical work featuring the latest advances in computing technology and research in the Department of Computer Science.

The day consists of hands on practical experiments mostly in our new Computational Media lab, and informal lectures by some of our academics. Activities include:

• programming some of our state of the art gaming PCs in XNA, and running the results on the Xbox 360 consoles - this is particularly popular with the students
• finding out how we make computers learn, and what mathematical techniques underpin the design of these systems. These are sophisticated methods - used in applications such as fraud detection, image processing, and mobile telecommunications
• a talk on Bioinformatics -- how computer science can help solve biological problems, such as the analysis of the human genome
• interactive demonstrations including robot mice navigating a maze, and finding out how to program Sony Aibo robotic dogs
• an opportunity to see what studying CS at university is really about, and to hear what courses are available at Royal Holloway, including our new options in games technology and computer sound and music.

To enjoy this course, you need to be taking A-level in a Science subject, preferably with a strong mathematics component, and considering a computer science degree.

Refreshments and lunch provided by the department.

General information|

Online brochure|

This is a competition to build an electronic or mechanical mouse which can navigate and solve a maze. The competition is open to anyone and it does not require a great deal of money to get started.

 Micromouse competitions have been held world-wide since the 70's and recently in the UK Micromice have featured on programs such as technogames. The competition is running again this year. For more information see the Micromouse UK |website and Micromouse for Schools: Schools and Colleges Micromouse Competitions|.

Creating games is a fun and educational aspect of computer programming. This page| gives some examples of how games and related activities are used in our curriculum.

 A multi-media presentation featuring SUZI the robot, a disembodied arm and a series of maze running robots, and also Vincent, the departments' one-eared Sony 'aibo' dog.