Canadian teams head to FIRST Robotics Championship

FIRST Robotics Canada announced 27 teams from three provinces will represent some of the nation’s best young minds in science and technology at this week’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Championship in St. Louis, MO. The Canadian teams join more than 370 from around the globe in a three-day Frisbee-shooting, pyramid-climbing competition.

Winning teams will share more than $16 million in FIRST-specific scholarships to leading STEM universities, including the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and MIT.

Teams earned invitations at Canadian regional competitions took place in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec over the past few weeks. The Canadian regionals brought together 121 teams of 25 to 30 students, aged 14 to 18, who designed and built robots in six weeks, guided by volunteer science and technology experts.

“Our competitors continually amaze us with their ingenuity and this year was no different,” said Mark Breadner, FIRST Robotics Canada’s Executive Director. “FRC gives students a taste of what it’s like to solve real world problems using robotics. It inspires students to pursue futures in STEM fields, and encourages them to consider the ethics of competition and practice the ideas of ‘gracious professionalism’ and ‘co-opertition.’”

Canadian teams headed to St. Louis are:

Alberta
Alberta Longhorn Robotics Society, Calgary
Ernest Manning High School, Calgary

Ontario
Assumption Secondary School, Windsor
Burlington Central High School, Burlington
Crescent School, Toronto
Gordon Graydon Memorial Secondary School, Mississauga
Kinetic Knights, Kincardine
King’s Christian Collegiate, Oakville
Kingston Collegiate & Vocational Institute, Kingston
Lo-Ellen Robotics, Sudbury
Near North Student Robotics Initiative, North Bay
Oakville Community Robotics, Oakville
Orchard Park Secondary School, Stoney Creek
Runnymede Collegiate Institute, Toronto
Simbiotics, St. Catharines
Sinclair Secondary School, Whitby
St. Mary Catholic Secondary School, Grimsby
St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School, Oakville
Theory6, Mississauga
W.A.F.F.L.E.S Community Robotics, Kingston
WE FIRST, London (two teams)
Westlane Secondary School, Niagara Falls

Quebec
College Regina Assumpta, Montreal
École Honoré-Mercier, Montreal
Ecole secondaire La Frontalière (CS des Hauts-Cantons), Coaticook
Loyola High School, Montreal