PCI robotics team off to world finals

The competition squad from Parkside Collegiate Institute’s “ThunderStamps” robotics team, after winning a provincial championship in Niagara Falls recently, is travelling to Houston, Texas for the FIRST World Robotics Championship. They will compete against teams from around the world for the top prizes.

The team is both largely sponsored and mentored by ETBO Tool and Die Inc. of Calton.

FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and it’s a nonprofit group that runs the robotics competitions.

Georgie Street is the team captain this year, while Alex Ronan is the build captain. Both are 17 and in Gr. 11, and both will be part of the team that travels to the world event.

Georgie said the team had about 30 members from Gr. 9 through 12, and anyone was welcome to join.

The team is divided into four groups and runs like a business. The sponsorship team seeks donations of money, equipment and time from sponsoring industries and businesses, the media team spreads word about the group, the build team does the engineering of the mechanical side of the robot, and the final team did the computer coding all learning business lessons along the way.

For the full story, see the April 29 edition of The Aylmer Express. (AE/contributed)