Southern Manitoba students off to world robotics championship

Danton Unger has the story of the Morris School Robotics Team and the work being done to inspire a new generation in science technology.

A small but mighty team of high school students from Morris, Man., are gearing up to take part in a global robotics competition.

The Morris School Robotics Team is made up of high school students who have worked together to build and code robots from scratch. In May, members of the school’s Blue Bombur Team will head to Dallas after qualifying for the VEX Robotics World Championship.

“We’re incredibly excited because we had two robots, teams of four students each, competing south of the border in the USA, and one of them finished on top of the Manitoba standing,” said J.P. Jamieson, a technology teacher at the school and coach of the robotics team.

Around 800 teams from 60 different countries are expected to participate in the three-day competition, which has been dubbed the world’s largest robotics competition by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Jamieson said his students are eager to hit the robot ring.

“They’ve been excited from the minute that this became real,” he said. “It’s something they’ve been working for since last school year … They work through lunches, they work after school, they work on the weekends. They’re constantly trying to come up with better designs. They’ve already rebuilt the robot four times.”

The competing team is made up of four students in grades 9 to 11 – brothers Josh and Andrew Hildebrandt, Grade 10 student Kayden Grattan, and 14-year-old Cody Dueck.

Since Jamieson launched the team back in September 2024, he said they have already taken their robots on the road, winning awards for their design in U.S. competitions.

He said the school was able to borrow the equipment through the Manitoba Association of Education Technology Leaders’ STEAM Library. The lab will have the gear for the year before it’s passed along to other schools and programs. However, Jamieson said the group hopes to raise around $7,000 to have their own equipment for years to come.

“We’ve been very fortunate to borrow a lot of equipment this year that we have to return by the end of the school year,” he noted. “So our next challenge is to make sure that our program can continue by fundraising to replace that equipment.”

The team is also aiming to raise around $6,000 to cover the costs of their trip down south.

“Getting your robot in one piece safely from your home country to the world championships is a challenge,” Jamieson said.

“We’re considering having it driven down, actually, so it doesn’t get bumped around on the planes.”

On Tuesday, the team will be pairing up with Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League’s Pembina Valley Twisters to kick off their fundraising efforts and show off their robot skills to the community. Those looking to support the team can reach out to Jamieson via email.

- With files from CTV’s Danton Unger.