Winnipeg company creates robotic Jets fan

It raises its hands, spins a towel and waves a flag. Meet the JetsBot, the newest fan of Winnipeg’s NHL team.

Staff members at a local business have combined their love of hockey and building robots into a futuristic way to cheer on the Winnipeg Jets.

Eascan Automation has created the JetsBot – a robot that celebrates every time the team scores.

“Basically, it’s just a robotic Jets fan,” said Roger Peters, mechanical designer at Eascan.

“So whenever the Jets score, he raises his hands, waves a flag, spins a towel. Everybody has a great time with it.”

Peters noted the JetsBot gave the team at Eascan an opportunity to work on a project that wasn’t specifically for a client but rather served as a way for them to all come together and celebrate.

“It’s just an example of one thing that a robot can do, because they’re completely programmable; really, [you can] program it to do whatever task you want them to do,” he said.

Peters said the robot took about two days to build, adding that he hopes it will give the Jets a little bit more support as they head into Game 5 on Thursday.