Robots converging on North Bay

Expect to see plenty of robots at Nipissing University for the 5th annual North Bay FIRST Robotics Competition this weekend.

About 900 students on 32 teams arrive on Thursday, with the competition taking place Friday and Saturday.

Team 1305 Mentor Nancy Dewar-Stenning says one team involved is an all-girls team from Afghanistan, who have overcome many obstacles in education and robotics.

“It’s a good reminder to the young women of Canada how fortunate they are to have equal opportunity, they’re also getting insights into the challenges that these young women have had to have,” she says.

The local Team 1305 is looking to qualify for their 15th straight World Championship, which is taking place in Detroit this year.

Team Captain Britney Lebel says their robot, Arcadius (pictured), has special skills that help throughout the match.

“We have these milk crate cubes that we have to stack on a scale or a switch,” she says. “We’re one of the few robots that can actually stack on there (scale) especially during autonomous, which is at the beginning of the match.”

They’re also a team player with a climbing task at the end, helping two other robots to climb with them.

Team 1305 was on the winning alliance at competition in Barrie earlier this month and won awards for engineering excellence and safety.