Hundreds of students from Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent gathered around a screen at St. Clair College's Student Life Centre this weekend to learn about the 2025 FIRST Robotics challenge, "Reefscape."
"The whole world sees what the event is, how some of the rules work, what the robots can be like, what the playing field is going to look like for this year," said Sheri Lynn Koscielski of FIRST Robotics Windsor. "Everyone worldwide gets to know at the exact same moment. And from now until their first competition is when the teams get to build the robots to meet those goals and the challenges that the game."
There are 10 high school teams from Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent competing in this year's global contest, where teams are tasked with using their engineering skills to strengthen one of the ocean's most diverse habitats.
"These kids don't only learn the technical skills of building a robot. They learn programming, electrical, all those tech and CAD skills," said Larry Koscielski of FIRST Robotics Windsor. "They also learn a lot of soft skills, like how to do presentations, how to speak to judges, put together sponsor packages, reach out to sponsors to get funding. There are so many things that they do that they're going to carry into their careers eventually, as they graduate."
These local teams are also getting a financial boost from St. Clair College and its Alumni Association. $1,000 cheques were handed out to each team as seed money to help them launch their robotics teams into this year's competition.
"Each one of you are part of this great FIRST Robotics Experience, which is sure to be an educational experience you will carry with you for the rest of your lives," said John Fairley, Senior Vice President of Communications, Advancement and External Affairs at St. Clair College. "We are happy to support you in your deep-dive quest in robotics, and we are thrilled to be a community partner of FIRST Robotics."
"This is so unique, it brings the College and University together, and most importantly, we're investing in you, the students," Fairley said.
With the concept now unveiled, over the next six to eight weeks, more than 3,000 teams of high school students from around the world will use their STEM and collaboration skills to explore life beneath the surface of the ocean by creating a robot.
"Along the way, we'll uncover the potential in each of us to strengthen our community and innovate for a better world with healthy oceans," reads an excerpt from the FIRST Robotics website.
From March 27 to 29, teams will assemble at the University of Windsor to display their robotic creations, with the winning squads punching a ticket to provincials.
From there, about two-dozen teams total will be selected to attend the World FIRST Robotics Championship, which is being hosted in Houston, Texas from April 16 to 19.
Typically, three or four of those teams come from this region, noted Koscielski.
Windsor-based Rocket Innovation Studio is coming on as a sponsor of this year's event, thanks to a unique tie-in with the company's founder.
Jasen Sams, the Vice President of Rocket Innovation Studio hails from Michigan and is a FIRST Robotics alumnus.
"I got to meet a lot of mentors that had huge impacts on what my career was going to look like, and I actually got to see what a lot of those careers did look like in reality, through FIRST Robotics," said Sams.
Led by Sams, the Rocket Innovation Studio is making its mark in the Canadian fintech industry, by nurturing a Canadian talent pipeline through collaboration, designing, building, and testing a full range of custom I.T. solutions to establish Windsor as a national technology hub.
Rocket Innovation Studio got involved with FIRST to help local students reap the full rewards of the experience.
"There's amazing talent coming into the academic side of things right here in our backyard," said Sams. "We see this long-term investment in finding those students, see them through college and university, and give them opportunities."
As part of its sponsorship, Rocket Innovation Studio will lead workshops with students, assisting with programming, mentorship, and project management.
"It means that they are part of something bigger than themselves. They're in a program that's not just about competition, but it's about everybody developing and getting better," says Sams. "A lot of their skills that they've gained during their high school experience are going to easily transition over to the workplace, and I personally have been building the workplace to kind of exemplify the way a FIRST Robotics has been set up."
Local teams include the Sabre Bytes Robotics, Rookie - Tidal Shift, Saints Bots, Belle River Boltheads, Knight Vision, Kennedy Kinetics, CK Cyber Pack, Villanova WiredCats, Amazon Warrior Robotics and UMEI Lightning Robotics.
Koscielski said getting engaged with FIRST Robotics changes the lives of area youth because it encourages youth to thrive in an academic setting that looks and feels more like a varsity competition.
"We're empowering our youth to create their own future in our community," said Larry Koscielski. "That's what we want. We want to keep kids here because they can have a great career right here in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent."
