Even to the uninitiated, the 6th annual North Bay FIRST Robotics competition is an amazing display of robotic technology.
Held at Nipissing University over the weekend, the three-day competition, featured robots designed and operated by 33 teams representing numerous high schools from across the province including FIRST Team 1305 from North Bay.
The game played at this competition was called Destination Deep Space, with space-related objectives.
Information on the game was released to every high school aged FIRST Robotics competition teams across the world in January, and they were given just six weeks to build and program their robot based on strict rules.
“One objective is for the robots to collect cargo, which happens to be great big balls, and they secure them with hatches that are large disks. So, robots have any combination of skills, ranging from being able to collect balls off the floor, or get them from a human player, to picking discs up off the floor or get them from a human player. Additionally, they have three different levels to score their cargo and their hatches. Some robots can stretch very, very tall. Teams decide what they want their robots to do,” explained Nancy Dewar-Stenning, tournament director and volunteer coordinator.
“We really like to host the event in North Bay because it makes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and FIRST more accessible to our Northern Ontario teams. We are the gateway to the north, so we can bring more opportunity for our northern teams.”
The competition is open to everyone regardless of skill levels.
“We are very up on equity, diversity, and inclusion. So, everybody is included in FIRST. Sometimes we think it is only about STEM, but the robots are a vehicle to develop the all-around character of the individuals,” said Dewar-Stenning.
“There is the business aspect, the promotional aspect, communication, presentation and there is artistic work that can be done on the team. So, there is a job for everybody, and when kids leave, they leave with tremendous skills, and we hear that over and over again from parents.”
Chris Mara is the mentor of First Nations STEM, Team 5672 which is an all First Nations robotics team from Wikwemikong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island.
“The high school has 150 students, and of that 150, we have between 20 to 25 students on the robotics team. Every year strong First Nations women make up 60 to 70 per cent of the team, taking on strong leadership roles. Whether that is the build team, the chassis team, wiring the robots, taking on the marketing and business side, women have been taking leadership roles in robotics,” said Mara.
“All team members learn the technical skills of machining, working with metal, they learn technical design skills, they learn coding skills, but it is much more than that. The students learn everything that is desirable in the 21st century.”
Mara says the team considers North Bay its home event.
“We love the atmosphere. We love the energy that is generated here. It is our home away from home and we love coming to North Bay.
Second-year team member Mary Pangowish says robotics is her whole life now.
“I look forward to robotics every year. I look forward to the build season and the competition season. It is such a big part of my life and really, I don’t know what I would do without it. It is such a formative experience. It is how I’m finding where I want to go to school when I graduate, and where I’m finding what career I want to have,” said the grade 11 student.
“FIRST Robotics is really about engaging people in STEM. I think they’re really accomplished their goal because they’ve gotten my team involved in it. Because of this, I found I really like working on small electronics, but I also like science, chemistry, and physics and I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t started in robotics.”
Benjamin Waldie is a grade 11 student at King’s Christian Collegiate in Oakville who started with FIRST in grade 9.
“There is a lot of team building and responsibility. It is that feeling that someone is relying on you, and you have to get something done properly and on time. And as I’ve gotten older, there are a lot more leadership roles. What I have achieved here has made me confident that I can be a team leader. So, now I’m instilling that in others, that we can work effectively as a team. That’s the biggest thing that I have learned from this,” said Waldie.
“I was interested in engineering before, and now I know I’m definitely going to pursue it. That is not going to change.”
Casey McNellen is the construction mentor for Team 1310 at Runnymede Collegiate in the west end of Toronto.
The team won the competition in North Bay in 2015 and 2016.
This year the team brought 50 students to the competition.
“I think they learn a lot of skills. We’re not a tech school so the kids get an opportunity to be hands on. It has helped many students decide the direction they want to take. It might have changed from what they originally thought. And it helps them find people with similar interests, and of course, they always enjoy when we travel up to North Bay instead of to just a local event,” said McNellen.
Former team member Daniel Nucci is a second-year software engineer at UOIT- University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
A former team captain, Nucci is now volunteering his time with McNellen, giving back to the team which helped shape his future.
“I really enjoy hands-on learning and getting my hands deep into the robot, so I actually got to learn more about actual technology that way, rather than just learning about it in class,” said Nucci.
“My advise to anyone who is interested in robotics or being part of a team is don’t be afraid. It is really easy to start, it is really hard to master though.”
The top 80 teams in the province go on to the provincial championships which are in Mississauga at the Hershey Centre in two weeks.
The top 29 from there will advance to the world championships in Detroit
Roughly 150 volunteers from across Ontario were recruited for the North Bay competition bringing with them specific skills, for specific roles.
