Robots take over school gym

May 7, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
More than 200 students from 14 York Region schools packed the gym at Nobleton Public School for the 10th annual Lego Robotics Tournament recently.
Throughout the day, the students put their minds together in an attempt to come out on top of the challenges put in front of them.
Nobleton PS Grade 4 teacher John Tovey has been running the event for the past seven years and said it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
“When it first started 10 years ago, there were two teams from two schools and it has just continued to grow and now we’re up to this many kids,” he said.
Each year Tovey and the organizers determine the challenges in advance, come up with the rules and then send out a package to the teams that enroll. The teams then get robot packages and start working on them in January to get ready for the tournament. They can use sites like Semerika, a technology based blog, to help them decide what to do with the robot but in teams, they usually come up with some pretty good ideas of their own.
On the day of the tournament, schools head into the gym, get about 45 minutes to do a final adjustment and then put their robots to task.
This year the robots took part in a speed skating challenge to go with an Olympic theme, where teams raced other robots on a track, using laser beams to help them navigate properly.
Each team’s robot competed in three races and one by one they were eliminated until a winner was crowned in each division.
Aside from the racing trophies and accolades, there were also prizes for top designs.
Tovey said the event brings out the best in students and gives them plenty of valuable learning experiences.
“It’s learning about technology,” he said. “The kids that are learning how to program, there’s a future in that and then designing and putting it together and mixing the two together is another completely different skill.
“Most of the robots here are out of the same kits and the kids have had the same amount of time. Some of them have figured out the intricacies of the programming itself and the difference between a first place finish and a twentieth place finish. Sometimes it’s just a very minor adjustment, but they have figured it out. Problem solving is another huge thing.”
Nobleton PS Grade 4 students Sarah Gisana and Allie Suomela were teamed up for the tournament and were beaming after their robot scored a second overall finish in their division.
“I had a lot of fun,” Gisana said. “I liked building the robot, it was really fun and it was just fun to be on the team.”
Suomela agreed: “It was nerve-racking when we were doing the final one because they were all really fast and we were like, so slow,” she said. “But we learned that practice makes perfect and patience is important.” Then Sarah jumped in, “and try your best and don’t give up.”
Speedskating Junior: 1st, Nobleton; 2nd, Nobleton and 3rd, Windham Ridge.
Speedskating Intermediate: 1st, Oscar Peterson; 2nd, Nobleton; 3rd, Glen Shields.
Medal Challenge Junior: 1st, Northern Lights; 2nd, Oscar Peterson; 3rd, Nobleton.
Medal Challenge Intermediate: 1st, Oscar Peterson; 2nd, Glen Shields; 3rd, Nobleton.
Design Awards. Speedskating Junior: Rogers. Speedskating Intermediate: Tie, 2 teams from Windham Ridge. Medal Challenge Junior: Hartman. Medal Challenge Intermediate: Northern Lights.