Dover Bay Secondary Robotic Club members. (L-R) Teacher Joe Spillman, Scott Wiebe, Mark Ratzlaff, Marina Pelletier, Hiroki Nariyoshi and Xiaorui Liu. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

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Dover Bay Secondary Robotics Club makes all the right shots

May 3, 2023 | 5:11 PM

NANAIMO — A group of high school students in Nanaimo have their own twist on Canada’s pastime.

Dover Bay Secondary School Robotics Club members came first place in recent regional and provincial competitions with a pair of ball hockey-playing robots, clearing the way for an appearance on the national scale later this month in Winnipeg.

Dover Bay robotics instructor Joe Spillman said their club’s work has been well received in the broader scholastic community.

“The whole thing is amazing. Winning provincials and representing B.C. is something that I didn’t think was going to happen. It’s been a cool last month,” Spillman told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Backed by Parent Advisory Council funds, internal administrative support and private sector donations, Spillman said their students are gaining purposeful skills in designing, building, programming and operating robotic devices.

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He said Dover Bay’s robotics curriculum launched about five years ago on a limited scale with few resources.

Today the tech heavy program is offered to grades eight through twelve and complemented by the extra curricular Robotics Club.

“Now we have motors, sensors, metal pieces, cortexes which are brains, different types of wheels,” Spillman said, who noted 3D modeling and printing is also available on site.

If that doesn’t sound complicated enough, a range of coding languages are incorporated as students gain more experience in designing and building various devices.

Some programs involve hundreds of lines of code, which Spillman conceded is a lot for himself to digest.

“Now kids have basically surpassed me, so I’ve got to keep up with them a little bit to learn some of the coding languages,” Spillman chuckled.

Mark Ratzlaff helped design and program the ball hockey playing bot.

He said the added attention their club is receiving helps expose opportunities robotics can present.

“There’s just so many things you can do and how the world’s going these days, everything is becoming automated. I think this whole entire club is setting people up for a career later on in life.”

Ratzlaff said their team didn’t go to the Abbotsford Trade and Exhibition Centre last month with the expectation of winning.

He credits their success to their team approach.

“If you’re separate you come up with little ideas, but if we all come together we can create a robot like this and become the best of B.C. in our category.”

Robot operator Marina Pelletier is excited for the chance to show off their team’s creation in Winnipeg.

She originally wasn’t interested in robotics, but now sees STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as a path to potential careers.

“It has definitely changed my lane in what I want to study in university, It’s a really great club to decide if you want to get into engineering, it emerges a lot of your interests.”

Donations to help cover travel expenses for Dover Bay Secondary’s Robotics Club at the Skills Canada National Competition on May 25 and 26 in Winnipeg can be made here.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes