Alberta students compete in robot building and programming competition
Kids from across the province participated in a high-tech competition in Sherwood Park Saturday featuring robots they built and programmed.
Students from grades seven to 12 competed in the First Tech Challenge, a stepping-stone tournament to qualify for provincial championships in March.
Each competition round lasts for two and a half minutes, with robots having to complete a task, like picking up cones and placing them on poles. During the first 30 seconds of the round, robots must operate without help.
"The coding has to be such that the robot will do the specific task," explained Sanny Chan, Cyber Eagles Robotics outreach coordinator.
Team members can use controllers for the last two minutes to operate robots. The more tasks successfully completed, the higher the points tally a team takes home.
Nate Stork, a Cyber Eagles team member, has been involved in robotics programming for six years.
A round of competition takes place at the First Tech Challenge in Sherwood Park on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Brandon Lynch).
"The reason why I stuck in it is because you learn so many skills throughout robotics and you also get to make really cool relationships with friends and whoever's on your team," Stork said.
He also enjoys seeing the robot performing well after hours of coding and designing. While teams are aiming to win, Stork says the competition is friendly.
A round of competition takes place at the First Tech Challenge in Sherwood Park on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Brandon Lynch).
"To know that all hard work you put in is actually paying off," Stork added. "It's more about helping out the other teams that you're with, so even though you might be playing against them, you're actually working with them.
"So I think it's just that feeling of working together not only with your team but other teams."
Stork's interest in robotics has now inspired him to consider a career in engineering.
"I think this really teaches me some skills that are really practical and can be used in a job and earning a degree," he said.
A volunteer oversees a round of competition at the First Tech Challenge in Sherwood Park on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 (CTV News Edmonton/Brandon Lynch).
When the competition first started, there were 30 teams in Alberta, Chan said. Nearly a decade later, that number has doubled.
"Globally there about 6,000 teams that are doing exactly the same thing that we're doing here today," Chan added.
"It used to be just one provincial championship, now we have regions — a northern Alberta and southern Alberta region — just because we have so many teams."
Chan says the competition helps teach skills that will support them in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers and beyond.
"Their ability to look for answers because the coaches don't always have the answers," she said. "It really helps them to go outwards… where you come upon a problem and realize the ways to answer problems are out there, they just have to discover it."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6944829.1719591965!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
TREND LINE Trudeau Liberals 'under siege' across the country, with Conservatives cracking red 'fortresses' like Toronto and Vancouver: Nanos
Hot on the heels of the Conservatives’ stunning byelection victory in the riding of Toronto—St. Paul’s, new seat projection data from Nanos Research show ridings considered previously safe for the Liberals are increasingly up for grabs.
Is homemade sunscreen safe to use? Here's why it's 'a horrible idea,' according to experts
If you could make sunscreen with items found in your kitchen pantry, should you do it? Posts from social media influencers and bloggers including recipes to make your own sunscreen have been wildly circulated online, but the dermatologists who spoke to CTVNews.ca call it a 'horrible idea.'
Ontario MPP removed from PC caucus over 'serious lapses in judgment'
Premier Doug Ford has removed a member of his caucus due to what he’s describing as 'serious lapses in judgment.' In a statement released Friday morning, the premier’s office said MPP Goldie Ghamari had been removed from the Progressive Conservative caucus 'effective immediately.'
Need multiple alarms to wake up in the morning? Here's what could be happening, according to experts
If you are clogging your clock app with multiple morning alarms, you’re setting yourself up for a groggy morning, experts say.
Biden's Democratic allies admit he had a poor debate but say they're still standing behind him
U.S. President Joe Biden strained to quell Democratic anxieties over his unsteady showing in his debate with former U.S. president Donald Trump, as elected members of his party closed ranks around him in an effort to shut down talks of replacing him atop the ticket.
Russia to prepare a 'response' to U.S. drones over Black Sea
Russia's defence minister ordered officials to prepare a 'response' to U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea, the ministry said Friday, in an apparent warning that Moscow may take forceful action to ward off the American reconnaissance aircraft.
The U.S. Supreme Court weakens federal regulators, overturning decades-old Chevron decision
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upended a 40-year-old decision that made it easier for the federal government to regulate the environment, public health, workplace safety and consumer protections, delivering a far-reaching and potentially lucrative victory to business interests.
A harmless asteroid will whiz past Earth Saturday. Here's how to spot it
Called 2024 MK, the space rock will make its closest approach to Earth Saturday morning, passing by at about three-quarters the distance from Earth to the moon. It was first spotted two weeks ago by a South African observatory and is about 393 feet to 853 feet (120 metres to 260 metres) wide.
A mother's pain as the first victim of Kenya's deadly protests is buried
Edith Wanjiku holds onto one of the few photos she's left with of her teenage son Ibrahim Kamau. His life was cut short by two gunshot wounds to his neck that were sustained during Kenya's deadly protests on Tuesday in which more than 20 people were killed.