Four Swift Current high school students took part in an international robotic competition this week in Calgary.

The annual First Stronghold Competition, Western Canada Regional feature top level robotics that's both fun and educational, as grade twelve student, Dylan Hanel explains.


"In January, we're told the challenge that we have to compete in, and then from there we have six weeks to design the robot. In the first week, we do the design. Then after that, we're building the robot and preparing for competition," he said.

Hanel's team placed 19th among forty teams, some as far away as the United States, Mexico and Israel. He's proud of their accomplishment, considering some of the teams have fifty or sixty active members.

"The game this year is called Stronghold and the object is to take out their outer castle and you take that out by crossing all of the obstacles. It's like dodge ball, where you shoot [boulders] into the towers and you're trying to destroy the castle," Hanel said.

The Swift Current robotics team is always seeking new recruits with various skills.

"You have to have to be high school age to be a active member. If they're older, they're a senior mentor. If you're younger - you don't have to want to be an engineer. We have a couple of members that are interested in the trades. Trades is a huge part of it because it's not just designing this robot, you actually have to build it. We need people who are welders, people who are machinists, we need PR people, we need essay writers. People you can write an essay, you can be part of this club. Anybody is useful in this club," Hanel said.

Meanwhile, after high school, Dylan is interested in pursuing his studies in engineering. He thanks Batco-REM for their support in providing a shop and building materials.



To hear the full interview with Dylan Hanel, click HERE.