Six Creemore youth will head off to Niagara Falls this weekend to test their talent and ingenuity against the best in the province.
The Cybergnome VEX Boys Team has been hard at work since last fall, building and refining their robotic device.
The local robotics team is part of a global network of clubs dedicated to creating sustainable, hands-on learning opportunities for students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Advisor Jim Crawford says the Creemore group is unusual as it is community based, whereas about 80 per cent of teams are high school based.
The Creemore boys, currently in Grades 6 through 8 will be competing with more than 60 teams, most of them composed of Grade 8-12 students. This is the first trip to the provincial competition for each of the local team members and Crawford says theyare excited and keen to show off their skills.
Each year, at the end of the world competition in April a new challenge for the next season is announced. Many teams start working on their entries right away. The Creemore team assembled at the start of the school year and started meeting one night per week to design, build and test their robot. Since January, they’ve been meeting twice a week for at least three hours per session.
This year’s challenge was to build a robot capable of scooping up plastic disks from the floor and shooting them into a net.The test is a two minute match, on a 12 x 12’ field. For each match, the team will be paired with another squad and will face two opposing robots.Not only must they control their own robot, they’ll need to cooperate with unfamiliar teammates.Crawford likens the game to frisbee golf, and says the skills developed here are important in developing the next generation of innovators.
In addition to the Cybergnomes Boys VEX, Creemore also has the Cybergirls VEX team and the Cybergnomes FRC (First Robotics) team made up of older students. Portions of Saturday’s event in Niagara Falls will be livestreamed and can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/@vexontario.
Bonnie MacPherson photo: Cybergnomes at work, from left: Ben Tamlin, Max Rentsch, Simon Rentsch, Thomas Weldon, Hayden Goodfellow-Oster, and Carson Fraser.