Local students show off robotics skills at FIRST Tech Challenge

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On Saturday, Feb. 8, students from across the region gathered at Salisbury Composite High School for the sixth FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition where 20 teams put their best robot forward in the hopes of earning a spot at provincials.

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While most team activities in high school require some degree of athleticism, the robotics competition is all about the brain, challenging the next generation of technological innovators to show off their engineering, coding, and construction skills in head-to-head battles. Featuring a mixture of school based and community teams, the event included nine Sherwood Park-based teams, five from Cyber Eagles, a community-based group, three from Sal, and one from Bev Facey.

The mid-range of the three FIRST Challenge levels, the competition featured students from junior high and high school and was one of the final qualifying events ahead of provincials which will be held in Red Deer on March 15 and 16. Top performing teams at provincials will earn a spot in the international competition which will be hosted in Houston, Texas this year.

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Challenging the teams to build robots capable of meeting certain challenge requirements, the season began in September when the new challenges were announced. This year, teams focused on moving game pieces both autonomously and with humans controlling the robot. Points are awarded based on the number of game pieces moved into certain areas such as baskets and hanging bars.

“This year there are little plastic samples that they have to be able to pick up and either move to a specific corner or put in a basket… or bring it to a human player who attaches a clip to it and then they hang it on the ‘submersible’ (structure) in the middle,” explained robotics Bev Facey coach, David Hay.

Designed, coded, and built entirely by students, the robots were constructed using kits, parts made by the students, 3D printing, laser cutting and engraving, and fabricating in metal shops as well as reused parts from previous models.

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“They’re building, designing, programming, practicing as much as a football team. Any given team probably has easily per student 50 to 100 hours into the robotics team, probably more,” said Hay.

Taking home second place at Saturday’s event, the Cyber Eagles Silver team, a community team based in Sherwood Park knows a thing or two about success in the FIRST Tech Challenge competitions, having made it to the international event last year and the year prior.

“Out of 8000 teams in the world, our little Sherwood Park Cyber Eagles Silver was one of the top teams in the world the last two years,” said coach of the Cyber Eagles Silver, Ryan Katchur.

Senior teammate with Strathcona Eagles Silver 10544 Rune Katchur said the team performed well on Saturday, everyone was focused, and, regardless of a high-stress environment, were in high spirits all the way through to the final match.

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“Our greatest challenge in the competition was our autonomous. It was inconsistent for most of the qualifying matches, and we spent a lot of time at the competition tuning it. By the playoffs though we had gotten it relatively consistent, which led to some great scores near the end of the day,” Rune recapped.

Now in his final year of competition as a Grade 12, Rune plans to enter the world of engineering or a related science field after graduating, which he attributes as a result of enjoying FIRST robotics.

“It has been the greatest experience of my life and I’ve learned a lot from my time on the team,” he said. “I’ve leaned many mechanical and technical skills and public speaking as well.”

Having secured a spot at provincials, Cyber Eagles Silver will be joined by two other Strathcona Cyber Eagles teams — Titanium and Topaz, and the Salisbury Robotics Red.

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Described as a friendly competition, the event showcased a range of robotics skills across the teams with some participants just starting on the path to learning about robots and others with years of interest and experience under their belts.

Team Lead of the Facey Cyberflex, Mitchell Pekse said he has been interested in robotics since elementary school and started learning to code in Grade 8. Now in Grade 12, he joined the team at the start of high school and said while he came in with some understanding, his knowledge of robotics has grown immensely.

“Learning how to code and how to make a code that actually works are two very different things,” explained Pekse.

While his passion for robotics is evident by his dedication, noting that he spent 13 hours on Friday ahead of the competition working out details, Pekse said it’s the team aspect that he likes most.

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“I truly enjoy seeing how everyone grows and can mature under a lead, whether mine or someone else’s, and seeing everyone come together to work on something that is so heavily dependent on (collective efforts) the team,” said Pekse.

A fresh variation on team sports, Hay said the team often attracts students who may otherwise struggle to find peers with similar interests.

“This is a place for students to find their people, the likeminded, the others who are sometimes a little bit neurodivergent or don’t fit into the football crowd… these become their people. They’re finally in a place where these are the ones they can get along with and they can talk with and work together, collaborate,” noted Hay.

— With files from Lindsay Morey

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