Out of 31,000 teams worldwide vying for a spot at the prestigious VEX Robotics World Championship, Saanich’s Claremont Secondary School is among the 800 selected to compete.
After winning the Vancouver Island championship in early March, seven students, split into two teams, are making final adjustments to their robots before heading to Dallas, Texas, on May 3.
The goal is simple: use their robots to score points by stacking rings on stakes placed around a 144-square-foot arena. Bonus points are awarded to robots that can climb a three-tiered tower.
“We're trying to use everything we can to come up with the best robotic solution to these challenges,” said math and science teacher Rodeny Paanen, leader of the Claremont team.
Whether through countless lines of code, endless tinkering, team brainstorming, or ingenious design, the students, ranging from Grade 9 to 12, work together to create the best robots they can muster for the competition, running May 6 to 14.
For Ava Lancaster, a member of Team 1022Z, also known as Inspector Quackett, this is a long-awaited chance to put their finely-tuned robot to the test.
Aidan Cheung, who helped develop the machine, said he and his team took over 350 hours to design, engineer and assemble the metal structure.
“This robot is like a jack of all trades,” said Cheung. “To be competitively viable, we tend to try to accomplish every single task available to us in order to score as many points as possible.”
Sporting a motor capable of 88 watts of power and a pneumatic system reaching up to 100 PSI, the team is in the final stretch of fine-tuning their robot for peak performance.
Beyond competing, the Claremont students are looking forward to meeting with like-minded peers from around the world.
“I'm really excited to go there because even if you aren't one of the teams that does the best, you still get to see everyone competing,” said Lancaster.
Paananen and the seven students will be at Royal Oak’s Country Grocer (4420 W Saanich Rd.) on April 21 to discuss their upcoming trip with Saanich residents and to raise funds.
For anyone unable to make it, funds can also be sent to 1022robotics@gmail.com.
