Robotics Workshop at UVic

On November 12th, all of our Grade 8 girls, a handful of Grade 8 boys, and a number of students from other grades descended on the University of Victoria for a robotics workshop. Arriving at 9:30 am, they were divided into teams of 4 or 5 students. In no time at all, each team constructed a Lego Mindstorms robot and then began writing software for "Roger", "Special Pete", and the other robots. The teams were faced with the daunting task of transporting marbles across a perilous paper river that the majority of them achieved. Each robot had a uniquely designed transportation unit for refugee marbles and used touch and light sensors to navigate. The creative engineering solutions and collaborative efforts of the students were very impressive as were the searching questions about university programs – including queries about graduate research! Many thanks to the University of Victoria's Women in Engineering and Computer Science for providing our students with such a unique learning experience.