'It's very neat': Manitoba Robot Games sparking students' interest in STEM careers
Students from across the province gathered on Saturday to compete in the 25th Manitoba Robot Games and learn valuable engineering skills.
Ria Sagert was among the many students competing in the games held inside Tec Voc High School.
Her robot is completely autonomous -- tasked with moving a barrel through a maze.
The grade 12 student said the project affirmed her future plans to go into engineering.
"Yes, yeah, for sure," said Sagert. "It really gets me into coding and seeing how this can kind of be a manufacturing plant and how a robot could actually deliver this stuff. It's very neat."
Sagert is part of the Robot Fight Club, which is run by WISE Kid-netic Energy at the University of Manitoba.
The team specifically focuses on getting girls interested in STEM, which has historically been male-dominated.
"We cater to girls as well as trans folks, non-binary to be inclusive and bring that diversity to the field," explained Rebecca Chin, a community initiative coordinator at WISE Kid-netic Energy. "Bringing everyone's identities, contributions, and experiences can lead to more creative solutions."
Students at the games can compete in several categories, like obstacle racing or robot sumo wrestling.
Regardless of what sport they compete in, students take home important skills.
"The hard skills are that technical piece. They built the robot themselves. They had to figure out where to put the sensors, so learning about how technology works, how the coding works," said Chin. "And then the soft skills, that team building and having to work with other people because all these participants are from different schools."
According to its most recent labour market outlook, the province expects there will be a shortfall of several hundred employees in the architecture and engineering field over the next three years.
It's an issue Alan Pollard, a retired engineer and executive member of the Manitoba Robot Games, said is already hitting the industry.
"For a number of years in engineering, we've had gaps, and people are trying to hire engineers," he said. "We don't want to poach them from other schools, other countries and other provinces, but it does happen."
It's a gap that students inspired by the games will one day help to fill. Students like robot sumo wrestling champ Samuel Peters, who wants to be an architect.
"Honestly, I do believe it does reinforce that idea, but I also believe these skills that I learned could also lead to other jobs," said the grade eight student from Carman Collegiate.
Peters said while competing was a little stressful, winning the championship felt very good.
This is the competition's first year back since the pandemic started. Organizers say attendance was slightly down from previous years but hope to hold its biggest competition yet next year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.