Robotics fans can get an up-close look at intense, yet friendly, competition as 150 young people battle in the FIRST Tech Challenge Qualifier Saturday in Saanich.
Since September, teens on teams from Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver and Washington state have designed, built, and programmed robots to compete in this season's game called Into the Deep – themed around ocean exploration.
“These students have gotten involved with a FIRST team for different reasons. Maybe it was to socialize or maybe it was because they already had an interest in STEM,” said Christine Nicholls, FIRST Tech Challenge program delivery partner for British Columbia. “But as well as learning robot building and programming skills, they are building skills like teamwork and collaboration that will help them get jobs in the future.”
The robots are coded and designed to use computer vision to automatically recognize samples and specimens to score them in baskets or on the submersible. During competition, teams are randomly placed in two-team alliances and compete against another alliance to score the most points.
Each team competes in five round-robin matches with a new alliance partner in each match. For the playoff rounds, the top four teams in the round robin each select their alliance partner.
Local high schools competing include Reynolds, Esquimalt, Spectrum, Mt. Douglas, and the host St. Margaret's School.
Admission is free and open to the public at St. Margaret's School, 1080 Lucas Ave. on Saturday, Jan. 25 from 1 to 5 p.m.
Top teams earn an invite to the provincial championships, also held at St. Margaret’s, Feb. 21 and 22.
