Robot battles at Yukonstruct’s Maker Faire generate interest in robotics for youth

Yukonstruct hosted its first-ever Maker Faire Yukon late last month, which was organized to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Among the Maker Faire’s myriad activities was a combat robots competition sponsored by Northwestel.

The competition was held at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre on the afternoons of July 27 and 28. Among the robot operators who participated were Northwestel’s Nathan Pullar, Director of Connectivity and Infrastructure, and his son, Thomas.

The experience, for Thomas in particular, was impactful, helping to forge an increased interest in robotics.

Five robots, four provided by Yukonstruct and one built and entered by a Whitehorse resident, participated in the contest initially. Nathan and Thomas’ robot was named ‘Rocky Botboa.’

“Of the five robots, four were made by the folks at Yukonstruct. We piloted one of the robots provided by Yukonstruct,” Nathan says. “By the end of the first day, we went from five to four robots after one was severely damaged.”

Speaking about how the first day panned out, Nathan notes they won their first robot battle before losing their second match. On the second day, which featured only four robots, Nathan and Thomas lost their first battle and won the second.

According to Thomas, each match was three minutes long. If both robots made it to the buzzer, the winner was determined by judges based on several criteria, including which robot inflicted the most damage on its opponent and how well each robot was piloted. If a robot was rendered unusable during a match, it automatically lost.

“Our battery died in our second battle on the first day, so we lost that match. The battle we lost on the second day, that was because our opponent knocked one of our wheels off,” Nathan says, before Thomas adds, “In the second battle, when our wheel got knocked off, we could still move the robot around, so it didn’t count as unusable, but then we got pinned very easily.”

The father-son duo took turns piloting their battle robot on the first day, but when it became clear that Thomas had a penchant for the complicated-looking robot controller, the teenager took on driving duties on day two of the contest.

“He won, and I didn’t, so I let him drive the next day,” Nathan says with a chuckle.

Thomas adds, “The controllers looked scarier than they were; there were so many switches, so many dials. But after I got through my first battle, using the controller became much easier.”

Nathan says that Thomas and himself were able to participate in the contest thanks to Northwestel’s sponsorship of the event, and both are grateful for the opportunity.

“It was excellent to be at an event representing Northwestel. We had Northwestel jerseys on, and Northwestel branding was all around the robot battle arena. It’s great that Northwestel sponsored that activity, as the Maker Faire was a great event,” Nathan says.

Thomas’ experience left him with a positive impression of robotics. He says he previously took a robotics course, but the programming technology the class utilized was sub-par, leaving him underwhelmed. However, following the combat robots contest, he is open to exploring robotics more in the future.  

“When you have a negative experience with something, you generally don’t want to do it again. But after having this experience during the Maker Faire, I think I’d be open to learning more about robotics,” Thomas says, adding that while he probably won’t pursue a career in robotics, “it’s still pretty cool.”