St. Catharines high school team wins world robotics competition
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | 11:02 AM ET
CBC News
A high school team from St. Catharines, Ont., teamed with two schools from the U.S. to win a world title in robotics over the weekend in Atlanta.
The 25-student team from Governor Simcoe Secondary School, called Simbotics, finished the competition with a perfect 13-0 record to win the annual FIRST Robotics Championship alongside schools from Michigan and Texas.
The Simbotics team's task was to build and program a robot that would move around a track and aim oversized balls at targets.
The weekend competition involved 344 teams from eight countries and was one of three contests at the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Championship, the brainchild of Dean Kaman, the inventor best known for the Segway self-balancing transportation device.
"FIRST is inspiring the next generation of innovators and engineers," said Kamen in a statement. "Years from now, some of the students who competed in the Georgia Dome will be inventing solutions to society's most challenging problems."
The Simbotics team's task was to build and program a robot that would move around a track and aim one-metre-diameter inflated balls around the track, either passing them over or under a two-metre high overpass.
Under the rules of the competition, schools team up in groups of three and compete in each match. The Simbotics team joined forces with schools from Greenville, Texas, (dubbed the Robowranglers) and Sterling Heights, Mich., (Thunderchickens).
The Simbotics team was sponsored by General Motors.
