Stampede’s Robot Rodeo features battle of bale-busting bots

When Lyla Boychuk first heard about the 2026 Calgary Stampede Robot Rodeo ’s Agtech challenge, she thought she might be building tractors. Instead, the young roboticist found herself duking it out, gladiator-style, on one of Western Canada’s biggest stages. “We want [youth] to know that beyond the flashy stuff out there, there’s also a very important role for agriculture.” Justin Zhou Boychuk is a longtime member of Western Mechatronics , a Calgary-based non-profit robotics organization offering