Ripley-Huron Community School students are learning the way of the future by creating their own robots and programming them to follow simple commands.

The FIRST LEGO League robotics team is well underway at Ripley-Huron Community School in the Township of Huron-Kinloss after receiving funding from the Early Investments in Education and Skills program, supported by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).

Grade 5 student Reed Dewar said he joined the team because it was something different he wanted to try and has already learned about robot programming after participating in the Discovery Western Day Camp last summer, sponsored in part by the NWMO and the Township of Huron-Kinloss.

“I like it because it’s different. I’m usually playing sports, so this was really fun,” he said. “I like learning how to program the robots.”

FIRST LEGO League is a robotics program for students in Grades 4 to 8. These students improve their teamwork, problem solving and computer coding skills as they work in groups of three or four to build and program their robot. 

The robots follow commands and complete tasks, controlled by a LEGO MINDSTORMS computer program that allows the students to program their robot to complete autonomous missions on a playing field.

Teammates Austin Van Hardenveld and Dylan Neitzel agreed that they both enjoy learning programming.  “We are learning how to build this robot and figure out how to program it,” said Mr. Van Hardenveld.

Ripley-Huron Community School students are fortunate to have teachers Jenna Church and Barb Grubb assist them each week as they work together to build and program their robots.

The Early Investments in Education and Skills program is a collaborative program between the NWMO and the Huron-Kinloss Nuclear Waste Community Advisory Committee. It supports education and skills training for Huron-Kinloss residents, including youth, as well as contribute to the well-being and capacity of the community.