Ottawa students take part in robotics competition

Robots are being put to the test this weekend in a regional competition.

In Ottawa, 15 different teams will face off in the Trash Trek Challenge, hosted by FIRST LEGO League (FLL).  As the name suggests, this year’s theme is about finding a solution to garbage.

Each Challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project, and the FLL Core Values.

During the Robot Game, participants must program an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field.

Students from the Ottawa Jewish Community School (OJCS) put their robot, Evee, to the test Friday.

“We’re a rookie team so we’re not very experienced in the field but we’ve worked together and we’ve tried, so I hope we do well,” said 11-year-old Joseph Newman.

Evee was created by eight students at OJCS.

“She’s going to activate the composter, she’s going to demolish and wreck buildings,” said 12-year-old Rom Smolenski.

Organizers at FLL say the purpose of the challenge is to get students excited about science.

“Students should get as excited about being an engineer, scientist, mathematician, as they do about being a hockey player. We try to set up a kind of sporting tournament atmosphere for them,” said Cynthia Bruketa, tournament director.

In Ottawa, the FLL qualifying tournament is scheduled for Saturday. This falls on Shabbat, a day of rest in the Jewish Community, so the league allowed OJCS to perform on Friday instead. The team’s points will be saved and revealed over the weekend.

“I won’t be able to sleep,” said Smolensky.

“I have a good feeling about this, I think that we actually have a change of making it,” said 11-year-old Talia.

The winning team will move on to the FLL Ontario Provincial Championships in January.