WATCH: Forget pencils and text books, students from across B.C. are getting hands-on learning by putting their homemade robots to the test. Ceilidh Millar reports.
In the world of Lego robotics, St. Margaret’s School is where some of the best and brightest young minds have come to show off their skills this weekend.
On Saturday, 40 teams and 300 students took part in the annual Lego League (FLL) B.C. Regional Championships.
One team traveled all the way from Whitehorse to compete in the prestigious competition.
The students, aged nine to 13, showed off their Lego creations which require hundreds of pieces and take days to make.
Using an app, they can code and program their robots to partake in a series of obstacles and challenges.
“It’s hard when there’s a mistake because it’s really hard finding the mistake and being able to fix it,” said grade 7 student Jessica Hua.
Each year, the tournament has a theme that challenges participating students to come up with creative robot designs to solve a wide range of problems relating to real-world issues.
“You get to try something new and see other people getting involved,” said grade 6 student Tina Wang.
“The program teaches some really good life lessons,” said grade 6 student Elizabeth Kelly.
Teams undergo various challenges and are judged based on their ability to solve problems using core values, their technical design skills, teamwork, a project and a robot game which is refereed.
“It does kind of open up the option for kids that maybe don’t love engineering or computer sciences,” said teacher Lauren Hudson. “They can see that there are problems out there that they are encouraged to solve.”
To learn more about the competition or to get involved, visit the website.
Ceilidh Millar
