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PHOTOS: Two Victoria teams take home awards at FIRST Robotics competition

Inventions run the gamut at regional robotics event

Olivia Barnabe and her friends try out driving a robot for the first time. (Photo by James MacKenzie
Victoria students shon among the 35 high school robotics teams competing in the FIRST Robotics Canada competition over the weekend, which saw robotic inventions of all magnitudes and shapes competing at the Save-On-Food Memorial Centre March 7-9.

“It was a fantastic event,” said Christine Nicholls, FIRST Tech Challenge affiliate partner for B.C. “The big thing for us is that the students have an amazing opportunity to see their creations in action – an opportunity to not just design and build, but take it to the competition field.”

Teams had to program their robots to complete some specific tasks – this year the options included moving a dodge ball and placing it in a container on three levels, closing a hatch held by Velcro and/or moving itself back to a levelled dock.

An Esquimalt High team, the Esquimalt Atom Smashers, took part in the international competition, creating a robot that would perform all three of the listed tasks.

The ‘Belmont Bytes’ of Belmont Secondary School took home the Industrial Design Award and Reynolds Secondary School’s team ‘Reynolds Reybots’ won the Rookie All Star Award, qualifying them for the Championships in Houston, TX this April.

The space-themed Championships see tens of thousands of students from around the globe come together for a massive robotics competition.

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nina.grossman@blackpress.ca

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