The robot springs to life and takes off down the table with a single-minded determination, motors whirring, gears turning and sensors sensing.
The complex machine is programmed to gobble up red, blue and green cubes, sort them by colour and stack them in specific locations on the playing surface.
But this autonomous creation will go beyond its programming when it takes a group of Oakville middle school students to a top global robotics competition in the United States later this month.
The 2015 Vex World Robotics Championship is taking place from April 15 to 18 in Louisville, Ky. More than 800 teams from all around the globe are expected to compete in this year’s tournament.
Oakville’s E-Bots PiThons earned a birth into this prestigious competition by winning top spot at the Ontario Vex IQ Challenge held recently in St. Catharines.
John Catricala, the owner of E-bots and mentor of the PiThons, expects big things as his protégés step out onto the world stage.
“These guys here don’t even realize it but their robot is so good, at the worlds, they’re going to be approached by every team out there going ‘How did you guys do this?’” Catricala said, excitedly waving his hands.
E-Bots, an educational robotics centre in Oakville, has a history of fielding strong robotics teams. In its seven years in existence, E-Bots has amassed a collection of trophies that line the office wall.
“These are students that would have probably been more introverted,” Catricala explains. “Now, they’ve turned around and for an instant in time they’re rock stars.”
This year’s VEX IQ Challenge is called Highrise. The object of the game is to gain the most points by moving the red, blue or green scoring cubes into the scoring zone and stack cubes of the same colour, creating a highrise.
Each cube in the highrise multiplies the points of corresponding coloured cubes in the scoring zone. These tasks have to be completed in 60 seconds.
The PiThons have been working since September to design a robot that can best accomplish this challenge.
At provincials, they set the current world record score, which is 300 points.
But that was with their previous design. Their new and improved robot — they’ve now called Cobra — is upping the stakes by a further 88 points.
Catricala said there are some people who refer to his students as prodigies, but he disagrees.
He believes they have a passion for what they’re doing and that drives them to be the very best.
“Once you find what’s exciting, that’s when the world changes,” Catricala explained.
“These guys here, if it’s a snow day, I’ll get a call from them saying, ‘I know you’re not open during the day, but is there any chance we can come in?’” he added.
For these youngsters, the passion for robotics started at an early age, playing with the popular children’s building toy LEGO.
“When I was a kid, I was into LEGO and I kind of wanted to take the next step,” said PiThon member, 13-year-old Zach McKennedy.
Team programmer Ethan Childerhose, 13, said his love for LEGO motivated him to seek out the E-Bots program.
“I came here and I started working and I found a love for programming and building the robots and then I got onto the FLL (First LEGO League) team and I’ve done that for the past four years, including this year,” Childerhose explained.
“The entire process has changed how I look at robotics. It sparked my love for programming,” he added. “It’s shaped how my future is going to be.”
Catricala said the E-Bots program is not simply about promoting the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects in school. He said the biggest difference he’s seen in his pupils is how their confidence has grown.
“I’d love to say it’s all academic, but it’s not. It’s personal development. It’s an achievement. They have confidence in themselves. They can now stand and deliver,” he said.
“They are proud of what they’ve done and they can speak about it.”
At the VEX World Robotics Championship, the PiThons will see how their creation stacks up against 125 of the top teams in their age group from around the globe.
“We’re excited to go but we’re nervous because if something fails then we’re…” McKennedy said, trailing off.
“We just want to do well and put ourselves up at the top,” added Childerhose.
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