In Canada, FIRST hosts two high school robotics competitions. The Waterloo Regional will be from March 23rd to March 25th, 2006 at the University of Waterloo. The Greater Toronto Regional will be from March 30th to April 1st, 2006 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. For more information, check out the website at www.firstroboticscanada.org .

These events provide students with an opportunity to test the results of their skills at designing and building robots. All of the competitors were given six weeks to develop a strategy, design and build their robots. The competitions provide teams with an opportunity to see how well their creations fare against other schools. This year's game is called "Aim High". It resembles a modified basketball game with three goals instead of one. The robots will have to pick up and throw balls as well as play defense against opposing robots. It is sure to be very exciting!

If you would like to volunteer at an event, please go to www.usfirst.org/4vol/ and select the event and the type of job you would prefer. Please note that our SME Toronto Chapter 26 organization is an official supporter of the FIRST Greater Toronto Robotics competition at the Hershey Centre.

FIRST also organizes elementary school level FIRST LEGO League events for students in grades 4 to 8. These competitions involve building a robot to accomplish specific missions. Teams also do research on each year's theme. Last year's theme was Ocean Odyssey. This year will be Nano Quest. For more information on this program please check out the website at www.fllcanada.org .