A Winnipeg-based company is using 3D virtual models to teach kids the basics of programming robots.

LaMothe, mathematician and computer scientist and author of the immensely well-received Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus, has reprised that technohit with the same thing for 3D simulation.

Epic Games will match a $100,000 federal grant to help jumpstart a tech apprenticeship program focused on 3D skills, the company says.