Robot-making students win gold at event in Shanghai

Calgary tech team also gets to share expertise with new friends in China

A team of Calgary high-school students took on the role of mentors during a recent robotics competition in Shanghai, China.

Cole Batonyi, who has been the team lead of Team 4334-Alberta Tech Alliance this past year, said the standout part of the trip was working with students in China who were learning about robotics.

“The highlight was meeting all of these aspiring teams, and applying the knowledge that I’ve learned over the past three years and being able to help them with that,” he said.

As part of the international competition, the Calgary team also picked up a gold medal for its robot, which is about the size of a lawn mower. Team members partially disassembled the robot, which they had been working on since January, to bring it to China.

“It has the ability to pick up a ball, drive across various obstacles that must be crossed in the robot game, and then shoot the ball into ... an opening about two feet wide by two feet tall that is about 70 feet off the ground,” said team member Bennett Gibson-Dunne, who just finished Grade 10 at Bishop Carroll.

He and Grade 12 grad Batonyi are part of the FIRST robotics community, an organization dedicated to youth math, science and technology education.

Team 4334 includes students from local high schools such as Bishop Carroll, Winston Churchill and William Aberhart.

Gibson-Dunne said he hopes to pursue opportunities in the area of science, technology, engineering or mathematics when he’s done high school, while Batonyi is looking at studying mechanical engineering.

“I really enjoy problem-solving, and so being able to do that in an environment where it’s very handson and there’s just so much to learn with it,” he said.

Batonyi said a memorable moment from the China trip came when a local team needed help with the design and strategy for a robot.

“They were having some issues with that, and so, finally, after being able to translate ... we were able to get the point across and then it made so much sense, and that was very interesting and very cool to be a part of,” he said.

The highlight was meeting all of these aspiring teams, and applying the knowledge that I’ve learned ...