Colin Melia's living room,dining room and garage are jammed with computers, wires, 3D printers and soldering equipment. There's even a big water tank for testing.

"I think the whole house has become the war room it's fair to say."

What it's really become is a robotics workshop, thanks to the work-to-rule campaign earlier this year by Nova Scotia teachers during their contract dispute with the government.

Whileeverything frombasketball tournamentsto school plays were sidelined by work-to-rule,Melia, a father of a student atCharlesP. Allen High School in Bedford,was determined not to let that happen to the school's robotic team.So he turned the team into a not-for-profit called Halifax Robotics.

"The robotic season is December to March and when work-to-rule came in we were fearful it would go on for a while. The teachers were really supportive, we just couldn't know how long it would go on for," he said.

Instead of heading to the school'scontruction/techroom when the bell sounds,16students in grades 10, 11 and 12 go toMelia'shouse.

"I just had to persuade my wife that it would be OK,"Meliajoked while students tinkered and worked behind him.

He spokeas students workedon fine-tuning the underwater robot that helped them win the recent regionals at the Nova Scotia Community College.

"We learned quite a bit about programming," said Yu Yang Li. "Before we didn't know that much about programming, now that I think of it."

The hard work paid off, with the groupadvancing to the MATE International ROV (remotely operated vehicle) competition in CaliforniaJune 23.The robotics team also travelled to the MATE eventlast year.

Colin Melia's living room, dining room and garage have been turned into a robotics workshop with computers, wires, 3D printers and soldering equipment. (Colleen Jones/CBC)

There are 30 teams from 16 countries looking to show that they've built the best underwater robot.

The Nova Scotia team's robothas six thrusters, four articulators and six IP cameras plus an onboard microcontroller. Almost all of the components have been built on 3D printers.

They have learned engineering, computer programming and code writing, butalso got a crash course in finding an alternative way to keep on going when a contract dispute looked like it was going to derail their entire robotic season.

When the team returns from California, Melia and his family might be able to eat at their dining room table again. Until then, it remains the headquarters for Halifax Robotics.

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How CP Allen's robotics club survived work-to-rule - CBC.ca