INUVIK
It wasn't quite a robot uprising at the Aurora Research Insitute (ARI) on Nov. 16, but who knows what the future holds?

Fletcher and Matthew Dares watch as one of the robotic vehicles being designed by teams during an event at the Aurora Research Institute tackles a maze Nov. 15. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The centre, in conjunction with the Inuvik Robotics Club, held a workshop allowing people to build their own motorized robots on the afternoon of Nov. 15.

More than 30 people showed up to participate in or observe the event, which which was part of the centre's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Matthew Dares is the manager of technology development for the institute, and also the head of the Inuvik Robotics Club. He organized the event, which happily coincided with the landing of the robotic Philae comet exploration spacecraft.

"I've been running an on-and-off-again robotics program since I moved to town three years ago," Dares said. "So we wanted to open this up and make it accessible to everyone.

"It's still quite hard to do, but it's something that's achievable within the afternoon to come and build and program the robot and hopefully build up a bigger club."

The group meets once a week, Dares said, and he's hoping to expand it to the elementary school.

"An event like this is more difficult to put together," he said. "We've got a 3D printer that's been offered for the day, and it's very cool to watch."

Six teams were taking part in the challenge, designing machines to navigate two different mazes. The first was a simple maze, while the second, Dares explained, had some blind turns in it.

The mazes proved to be a little trickier than expected during the first attempts, but it didn't take long for the teams to start refining their designs and working the bugs out of the software system.

Dares presided over their efforts with enthusiasm, although he said he wasn't sure if anyone would master the mazes by the end of the day.

The machines were using sensors to help determine when their vehicles should turn in the maze, and the calibration process was a bit tricky.

"I'm very happy to have this kind of turnout," he said.

"I think this is an amazing event to help students become interested in science," said Jane Arychuk, president of Aurora College, which is affiliated with the research institute. "It's also a great way to get them into our research institute to see what goes on here and maybe make a career in the sciences."

Arychuk was in town to attend the anniversary celebrations, which culminated in a community dinner on Nov. 19 at the Midnight Sun Recreation Centre.

The board of governors for the college is also meeting in Inuvik this week.

Michael Ha was one of the youngsters who's spent a bit of time working with the robotics club before the event.

"Yes, I've done this before, but it's fun," he said.

"This is really fun," agreed Brennan Sutton as he worked with Fletcher Dares on their machine.

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