That buzz from Georgian College on Saturday had a distinctly robotic tone.
The annual FIRST Robotics Ontario district qualifying event is taking place, with teams of high school students competing in battles combining sports with the practical application of science and technology.
About 30 teams of students design, build, program, test, and compete with their robots.
Fred is the robot from team 9580, the Cybears, comprised of students from the Barrie area, from Penetanguishene to Innisfil.
Elias Coleshill, 17, a Grade 12 student at St. Peter’s Catholic Secondary School in Barrie, handles mechanical and electrical issues on Fred, who weighs 108 pounds and has parts worth more than $6,000.
Coleshill said everything about Fred is pretty new.
“It’s a modified bot, so it’s like the starter bot but we modified it heavily. We took it and we added a whole bunch of different systems like an intake, an indexer, a shooter, a climber, the driver train,” he said.
“We’re a rookie team, so it’s our first year competing, all of us. Our team has only existed for four months and our robot has only been two-and-a-half, three months. Everything came together really quickly.”
Preston Messina, 15, a Grade 10 student at Nantyr Shores Secondary School in Alcona, is the team’s lead mechanical tech.
“I do all of the building. I put together the parts,” he said.
But what Messina really likes about the FIRST Robotics event is the community it creates.
“It’s not overly competitive, so you could ask other teams for help and they would help,” he said. “It’s not like they’re holding secrets from you.”
“We could go up and ask for new parts and other teams would help us out,” Coleshill said. “The community is amazing.”
“It’s just spending time building robots with everyone who also likes to build robots,” Messina added.
Fred is made mostly from aluminum, Coleshill said, because aluminum is strong for its weight, and it’s stronger by weight than steel.
The competition itself runs on a number of levels.
Teams of high school students build industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game in alliance with other teams.
Points are scored by picking up cones and cubes, transporting them across the field of play, and then placing them in specific spots. The robots can only carry one object at a time.
All skill levels are needed, technical or non-technical, on each team.
The Cybears, for example, have about 17 students and mentors on their team.
FIRST Robotics Ontario district qualifying matches took place Saturday and are scheduled to take place Sunday as well, with playoff matches Sunday afternoon.
The Ontario Provincial Championship is in Mississauga from April 3 to 6.
More information can be found at firstroboticscanada.org/frc/
