Students battle SUMOBots in Saskatoon robotics competition

Students from across Saskatchewan gathered in the Bridge City Thursday to battle the robots they built.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic hosted nearly 200 students from 40 high schools at its Saskatoon campus for the annual myRobotRumble SUMObot Challenge.

Prior to the competition, teams were given a kit containing enough parts for two robots. Teachers worked with students to build and test the robots.

Jay Shah is a Grade 10 student from Marion Graham Collegiate in Saskatoon and participated in the competition. He told CBC he spent almost two months hardwiring and working on the software for his robot.

For Shah and others, the competition is a chance to test out skills they hope to use in their future careers.

"Since a very young age, I've been interested in science and technology," Shah said. "Now technology and programming stuff is getting much more important, so I am hopefully going to use everything I learned today to get a career in science and technology."

Then the fun began. At the competition on Thursday, students wrestled their robots.

The goal of the game was to stay inside a ring, and push the opponent out, just like in sumo wrestling. The robot that stays in the ring the longest wins the match and moves on to the next round.