Brilliant Minds Unite
All-girl robotics team from Ontario takes its skills to world championship
Words by David McGinn.- Photography and video by Sarah Espedido
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Published June 24, 2026
Brilliant Minds Unite
All-girl robotics team from Ontario takes their skill to world championship
Inside the Design Tech Lab at Trafalgar Castle School, an all-girls grades 4-12 private school in Whitby, Ont., the senior robotics team prepares for the biggest competition of its life.
This is the first time the team has qualified for the MATE ROV Competition World Championship, an international three-day contest where teams compete with their remotely operated vehicles to complete simulated missions under water.
Taara Gill, Team CEO
Natalie Calnek, a 16-year-old member of the Trafalgar team, said being at the world championship might encourage other girls to join a robotics team.
“It provides an opportunity for girls to be interested in engineering, and people who may not have considered it before joining a team like this allows them to see what it could actually be like,” she said.
Teams will test their ROVs in a range of challenges: grabbing items and bringing them to the surface, counting objects, measuring “icebergs” and more. They will also be acting as startup companies, presenting technical documents and making marketing pitches to a panel of industry experts.
Abeeghaa Nishangan, Pilot