High schoolers send robots into battle at Waterloo competition
Thirty robots went head to head, battling for machine supremacy at the University of Waterloo FIRST Robotics Competition on Saturday.
The event is one of eight district championships held across the province.
Teams made up of local high-schoolers design, build and program their mechanical marvels, which are capable for grabbing, carrying and balancing different objects.
“Waterloo has a reputation of being a preview for not only the Ontario championships but sometimes even the world championships," said competition manager William Neal. "We’ve had some of the very finest teams in the world come to the Waterloo region.”
More than a dozen teams could advance to the provincial championships, and from there, possibly reach the world championships in Houston.
“It’s a life transforming process for many of these students and these teams,” Neal said.
A team makes last minute adjustments to their machine. (Tyler Kelaher/CTV Kitchener)
But the real prize is the experience the event offers and the doors it can open.
Neal says millions of dollars of scholarship money have been handed out at the event over the years.
"I’ve learned so much, I know this is what I want to do after high school," said Chloe Bogaert, a member of the team FRC2702 Rebels. "I know I want to go into a job like this.”
Members of team FRC2702 Rebels, including Chloe Bogaert (right), appear during an interview with CTV News. (Tyler Kelaher/CTV Kitchener)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.