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
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.