Last Tuesday evening, in conjunction with a hockey game, the Pembina Valley Twisters supported the Morris School Advanced Robotics Team in their fundraiser drive kick-off as they prepare to raise $16,000 to represent Manitoba at the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas in May.
“The students practiced their ability to pack and move [their entire VEX V5 field kit] to the Multiplex tonight,” said technology teacher JP Jamieson. “This kick-off event is really special because we get to showcase the students. They are perhaps nervous, but get to learn every step of the way—skills building, how to run a fundraiser, work with partners, and how to fix and build robots.”
Photo by Siobhan Maas/Voice
Competitive robotics encompasses many aspects of STEAM, bringing together engineering design, problem-solving on the fly, strategy, teamwork, perseverance, and play.
“The game is incredibly chaotic on purpose, with strategy changing every single year, and more advanced robots emerging with new capabilities,” shared Jamieson to the crowd that gathered around the ring to watch a fast-paced round of Team Blue Bombur against Team Phillip. “The students learn best by watching other teams. Very few teams in the world have robots that climb and put a ring on top of the ladder.”
Jamieson hopes the students are able to witness the feat at a world-class event soon.
Both teams have been competing internationally with great success; highest rank achieved being 1,442 out of 12,788 teams in a recent competition. Since November, Blue Bombur has competed in three tournaments, bringing home threetrophies, including design and judges awards. In Blue Bombur’s most recent event, the Red River Valley VEX V5 Robotics Competition at the end of January in East Grand Forks, MN, the team placed 14th of 60. Team Phillip debuted at 18th of 60.
To represent Manitoba at the World Championships from May 6-8, the team has several monetary goals: to secure funding for travel, purchase new jerseys, and improvements to Blue Bombur robots for a more competitive edge.
“We are always looking at ways to improve the robots,” said Cody Dueck, a Gr. 9 and first-year robotics student. “We learn team work, coding, get hands-on with what works and fix weak robots for stronger, more consistent improvement. If a robot can’t do a task, it doesn’t compete well in competition.”
In order to continue to compete in high-level tournaments in the United States, $7,000 will be needed to replace a lot of the team’s current equipment. The field kit ring and current robots are borrowed equipment through the Manitoba Association of Education Technology Leaders’ STEAM Library and will be returned for other schools to use at the end of the school year.
“We are the typical underdog story,” said Andrew Hildebrandt, member of Blue Bombur. “We are beating teams even though we have little experience. We rebuild after every tournament and love crushing the competition.”
Jamieson believes in the power of robotics building leadership and experience.
“All of the students have gotten practice speaking in front of the school board, writing their engineering journal which is part of the award criteria, and have become known as the “cool Canadians” at the tournaments south of the border for their positive attitude.”
Organizations interested in sponsoring the team can contact Jamieson at jjamieson@rrvsd.ca.
Private donations, raffle monies, and the Twisters team contributing their 50/50 proceeds from Tuesday’s game raised $866 for the campaign.
