2013-2014 FLL Ontario East Provincial Championships
Congratulations to Bayview Glen Champion Robotics Teams
Team Ctrl-Z: Champion’s Award – First Place
After a month of refining our robot and polishing our presentations, Ctrl-Z Bayview Glen competed at the FLL Ontario East Provincial Championships at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on January 18. Through the early morning snowy weather, team members A. and C. Alexiev, J. Borromeo, L. D’Alessandro and A. Mark arrived in Oshawa. We put on exceptional presentations regarding robot design, core values, and our research project covering this year’s "Nature’s Fury" challenge. The judges were so impressed by our robotic engineering and project creativity, they requested a repeat presentation before a different set of judges. This was a great start to the day. In the afternoon, we appreciated Mr. Gaudet’s motivating pep talk and we placed ninth out of 40 in the robot game.
At the awards ceremony, Ctrl-Z was presented with the overall Champion’s Award – First Place for excellence in all three aspects of FLL: the robot, core values and research project. Our coach and BVG parent, Eric Borromeo, received the Adult Coach Award in recognition of his countless hours working with the team and promoting FLL in Ontario. Ctrl-Z is now advancing to the first ever FLL International Open – Canada where 72 teams from around the world will meet at the University of Toronto in June. Congratulations to all Bayview Glen’s robotics teams for an outstanding season and thank you to everyone for their support. See you at the International Championships.
by A. Mark, Grade 9
Team iGo: Champion’s Award – Second Place
It was a very long busy day for Team iGo at the FLL Provincial East Championship on January 18. Our first of three judging sessions started at 8:00 a.m. sharp. After we finished presenting our research solution, our robot design, and completed our core value challenge, we decorated our pit area to share our project solution with the other 39 teams from eastern Ontario.
We went around to visit the other teams, learned about their projects, and we invited them to play our “Rescue a Minifig from Rubble” game. It was a great hit. (Thank you to Ms. Hulan and Mr. Halili from maintenance for helping.)
After the first round of judging, we received callbacks for all three categories to see a second set of judges. All our judges were very impressed with our innovative solution “IP-911”, and with our robot commenting that they “have never seen such a clever design” like ours. After a fantastic robot game, we were awarded the Champion’s Award – Second Place. We would like to congratulate Gryphonbots and Ctrl-Z for a successful tournament.
The competition part of the Championship was exciting and rewarding for us, but we think the best part of the event was to meet and to learn from other teams. It was truly a day of FIRST – For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.
We can’t wait to compete at the International Championship in June.
by M. Lai, Grade 8
Team Gryphonbots: Innovative Solution – Second Place
At the regionals, the Gryphonbots placed second, permitting them a spot to go to the provincials. On January 18, the Gryphonbots travelled to Oshawa, along with the other Bayview Glen teams, Ctrl-Z and iGo to the provincials. It was extremely busy there with 40 other teams that had risen to the top of their respective qualifying tournaments.
The experience was one of a kind. This was an amazing opportunity to speak in front of professionals with a vast amount of experience in engineering, computer technology, programming, and business. It was like we were performing a play of our knowledge. We worked on our language during practices while also being Gracious Professionals, which means being positive instead of negative to other people and thinking of all the people who are affected by our actions.
We gave a first rate presentation of our invention, The Sponge Sensor; a flood detector that we programmed to sense unwanted water and send a message to your phone. We came in second amongst the entire field for creating an innovative solution. Our team also scored personal bests in the Robot Games and made it into the top eight within the playoffs.
A big thanks goes out to iGo and Ctrl-Z, who were excellent mentors and role models. The best parts of the whole experience were making new friends from different grades, learning how to program, and develop sound engineering principles.
by E. Liu, Grade 4
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