Cybergnomes aim for Worlds

The Cybergnomes First Robotics team, a group of six local youth, will be in Hamilton this weekend, competing for a chance to advance to the World Championships.

Lead mentor, Andrew Bronee, says the students from Grades 8-12 are a diverse group from across the Barrie to Collingwood area.

This year’s “game” was released in early January and since then the team has been meeting five days a week to build and refine their entry.

The goal is to construct a robot capable of manipulating traffic cones and inflatable cubes. Success is measured in a contest of three teams against three teams.

The Cybergnomes have been through several preliminary rounds to this point – the first weekend of March was a regional competition in Chicago, the second weekend was a district match at Western University in London and the third weekend in March was another district meet in North Bay. So far, the team is ranked at 22 of about 120 teams in the province. The top 70 teams will compete in Hamilton this weekend with the top 30 teams advancing to the World competition in Houston.