FAQ

No, ORA will have sessions ranging from beginners to advanced. Anyone with an interest in learning more about robotics engineering is welcome.

Please see the course descriptions on the 'Courses' page for course fees.

Registration fee includes tax, access to robotics equipment, computers, facility costs and liability insurance.

There are discounts for families registering siblings.  

Depending on the course, tournament preparation, etc., class sessions generally range between 75-90 minutes. 

If, after the first class, your son/daughter decide it is not for them, there is NO fee. After that, tuition, less a $150 non-refundable deposit, is refundable until the end of the third week. 

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Based on years of teaching robotics, we are pretty confident your son/daughter will want to continue 🙂.

You will have full access to robot equipment and materials, including computers. Academy students receive an ORA t-shirt and some cool Okanagan Robotics Academy bling. 

After completing Robotics CORE or an equivalent course, depending on age students have the opportunity to compete in events such as SumoBot, Soccer, Search & Rescue. There are individual and team competitions options available. For example, SumoBot can be both individual or teams of up to three, Robotic Soccer is normally teams of 2-3, Search & Rescue 1-2, etc. 

We also have non-competitive options for students who like to innovative projects. 

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For parents desiring their child to be in a cutting edge community of like minded peers, consider giving ORA a try.    

Introductory and advanced courses include Lego Robotics using NXT and EV3 platforms, BBC Microbit, and Arduino.  ​

At ORA, we focus on supportive community, team building, teamwork and collaboration. There will be times when you will work individually, and there will be times when you will be encouraged to share and collaborate with other students. 

Many of our courses fulfill the Ministry of Education's Core Competencies and Content for ADST (Applied Digital Skills and Technology). High Schools can create partial or full course credits (Course Credit toward graduation is relevant for Grade 10-12) for ORA courses taken. In Grade 3-9 ADST is a required course. Many schools, including Home School Programs, are granting ADST credit for students in our Academy. Contact us for more information. 

​Through years of teaching in this field, we have designed a program that introduces relevant concepts through engaging and

thoughtful course design. We build challenges around these concepts that are goal oriented. 

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Each course builds on previous learning focusing on a specific concept(s) that is relevant to skills needed in robotics engineering.  

​Many of these concepts make relevant and complement what students are learning in school.

For example, students always question why they learn about inequalities in Math at school (>, <, =). What use are they?

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However, with us they soon learn that understanding an inequality is very important when programming sensors such as the Ultrasonic Sensor (the eyes of a robot). The same can be said of the importance of spelling, grammar, and syntax when programming in C++. We help students see the connections to their learning at school. 

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We subscribe to the FUN Theory. That is, we believe that students tend to learn best when they are enjoying what they are learning about. Learning about robotics can be overwhelming, difficult, and cumbersome at the best of times. However, we have designed innovative courses in a supportive community that enable students to have fun while they struggle through the learning process.  

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 We hope you will consider us at ORA!​​

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There is limited enrolment although to date we have managed to include everyone who has enrolled. 

We will be maintaining class sizes at a maximum of  10-12 students. Students outside of the enrolment cap will be placed on a waitlist, or can pre-register for the next session.