About 1,800 students participated in the first Robotics festival in Quebec which took place in an electrifying atmosphere, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Uniprix Stadium. Organizers estimate that the event drew 3,000 spectators.
To the sound of loud music and encouragement from supporters proudly wearing their team's colors, robots competed in an adapted “basketball” match. The enthusiastic description of the adventures by the commentator had nothing to envy to sports matches. The “Stanley Cup” for robots was aimed at young people aged 14 to 18. Each school had six weeks to build a functional robot capable of "playing basketball", but the robotics apprenticeships for young people started in September. They worked with teachers, university experts and engineers.
The Régina Assumpta College and the schools of the Commission scolaire de Montréal Louis-Joseph-Papineau and the Vitrail won the final. In addition, the Séminaire de Sherbrooke and the Loyola school have won the "President's distinction" and "inspiration in engineering" respectively. These five teams will face other robots at the international championship which will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, April 26-28.
The youngest
Participants aged 9 to 13 were invited to develop much less sophisticated robots under the themes of food security and extinct civilizations. The mood on their side was a little calmer, but they were able to demonstrate how much they could compete in imagination and ingenuity.
In total, young people from 67 Quebec schools, one Ontario school and four American schools took part in the event, which was made possible thanks to the commitment of many partners. Indeed, more than a million dollars have been invested for the organization of the festival, but also to finance robotics programs in schools.
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