In what was described as a “friendly scrimmage” hosted by United Robotics of Lacombe (URL) on Saturday, several robotics teams from Calgary, Edmonton and central Alberta met in Red Deer to test their machines.

URL is a tandem of four teams at Lacombe Composite High School. They build the bots as part of their participation in FIRST, a non-profit aimed at getting kids inspired about science, technology, engineering and math, through robotics competitions.

In competitions, robots complete various tasks, like sorting cubes into grids or climbing onto balance boards.

Students learn a variety of skills related to STEM subjects, like coding.

Holden Fafard is a Grade 10 student in Lacombe, who serves as his team’s programmer. He knew nothing about coding until attending a series of workshops put on by FIRST mentors.

“It’s just a great experience to learn stuff and meet new friends,” Fafard said.

Problem solving is another skill he’s developing as part of his involvement, he added.

Generating interest in STEM is crucial, said teacher and head mentor Steven Schultz, because of a growing skills shortage in those areas.

“These are our future engineers and they’re going to fill that void and they’re going to enjoy it because they’re passionate about it. It’s growing at such an accelerating rate that if we don’t prepare them now, Canada’s going to be left behind,” Schultz said.