Alongside parent mentors, six high school students are the leaders behind Brampton Robotics, a non-profit organization created to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education through robotics to the youth community in Brampton.
The group was founded after their first Vex Robotics World Championship win in 2014. Teammates from Discobots Canada formed the organization when an outreach program showed strong interest, but little opportunity for students to learn about robotics and advanced computer programming skills. Brampton Robotics has since built a common platform for students from Grade 3 –12 from various schools develop skills in key areas of leadership such as marketing, project management and engineering, all critical for future success.
“Our vision is to create leaders, skilled in the arts of critical thinking, problem solving, and forward looking,” says Pankaj Saxena, co-founder of Brampton Robotics. “We’ve had significant achievements and milestones reached with our clubs over the past few years, and we want to take the next step for our very talented and motivated students.”
The organization currently runs multiple community-based student teams, both at high school and elementary levels, and guides them through various VEX and VEX IQ robotics competitions. VEX is a popular robotics design system kit. Tournaments are held year-round at the regional and national levels. Local champions go on to compete against the best in the world at VEX Worlds each April.
The VEX Robotics World Championship is a gathering of top robotics teams from around the world to celebrate their accomplishments and compete with and against the best of the best. Brampton Robotics achieved a new level of success at the 2016 Worlds when Team 1104M from the high school category and Team 1140X from the elementary school category each took home the title in their respective divisions. The 2016 VEX Worlds included over 1,000 teams from over 400 VEX Robotics Competition tournaments.
Currently Brampton Robotics runs their meetups out of a club member’s home, and relies on financial contributions from the participants for equipment, fees and travel costs. As they prepare for the 2017 competition year, with plans to add a university-aged team, they are looking to build new community connections and industry partners.
If you are interested in learning more about Brampton Robotics visitwww.bramptonrobotics.org. For sponsorship or media inquiries, co-founder and parent mentor, Pankaj Saxena can be reached by email at 647-248-1851.