3 lone wolves
3 lone wolves
Floor action
Floor action
Knights and bolts
Knights and bolts

 

Counting refs
Counting refs

 

In the pits
In the pits

 

Match setup
Match setup

Supplied by the Algoma District School Board…
Sault College played host to the 4th annual Northern Ontario VEX Robotics qualifier this weekend, where 21 district high school teams battled it out to earn spots at the upcoming Provincial VEX championships.
“Lone Wolf Robotics”, a team of independent students (not connected to a high school), proved to have a dominant machine which proved to be unbeatable.  After qualifying first in the Round-Robin portion, they chose the “Knights and Bolts”, an all-girl team from St. Mary’s, and the rookie team “Huskybots” from C.A.S.S..  This #1 seeded playoff Alliance team would face the #2 ranked Alliance of Korah pairs “Kalesh” and “[insert name here]” plus St. Mary’s “Team Aries” in the playoff finals, and proved to be too much for the #2-ranked squad, capturing the TEAM TOURNAMENT CHAMPION award.  This also qualified the #1 alliance squad to be able to represent Northern Ontario at the Provincials in St. Catharine’s in February.
The event’s overall top award, the EXCELLENCE award, also went to Lone Wolf Robotics, who placed top-3 in every performance and scoring category for the event.  They also took first place in the ROBOT SKILLS award, where robots perform Autonomous (no Driver), plus a Driver’s Skills contests in solo scoring efforts.
Lone Wolf Robotics was not finished for the day, also winning the top judging award; the DESIGN award, which recognizes exceptional engineering skills and process in the form of a completed design notebook, plus an interview with a panel of engineering professionals who judged their engineering methods.
In other categories and awards, the following teams also brought home accolades and trophies:
CASS’s rookie team “Dues Ex Machina” earned the BUILD Award, in recognition of having a solidly constructed and efficiently designed machine.
St. Mary’s “Knights and Bolts” also added the CREATE Award for their innovative and very effective lifting and gripping system for grabbing and scoring the game’s unique foam stars and cube-shaped beanbags.
St. Mary’s “Prototypes” earned the AMAZE award for effective scoring strategies and overall ability.
The Hornepayne High school’s squad “Stormborn” brought home the JUDGE’s award by impressing the judges with their overall performance and skills.
Peer awards (as voted on by their fellow teams) were earned by Michipicoten High School’s “Little Vikings” for their enthusiasm and ENERGY while Superior Heights’ “White Noise Factor” was voted to receive the SPORTSMANSHIP award.
This wraps up the season for the secondary school teams, except for Lone Wolf Robotics, Knights & Bolts, and Huskybots, who will prepare for the Provincials.  Wild Card invitations could also add one or two additional local teams but depend on overall Provincial scores at the end of the qualifying season.
The local program and event were made possible by the incredible support and assistance of Tenaris Algoma Tubes, PEO & OACETT (Algoma chapters), Sault College and Algoma District School Board, plus dozens of local engineering and technology companies who contributed purchase the event fields and game equipment for the event.
Local Elementary schools will face-off in the VEX IQ event at Sault College on January 21st, attempting to earn their own berths to the VEX IQ Provincials.

W. C. Eaket in the pits
W. C. Eaket in the pits