M’CHIGEENG—It was a weekend of firsts as the Manitoulin Metal Robotics #6865 team won the ‘Stemley Cup’ and another prestigious award at a pre-season competition held earlier this month in Hamilton.
“Manitoulin Metal Robotics team competed in an off-season event in Hamilton this past weekend, and we won,” stated MSS team mentor/coach Yana Bauer last week. “This was definitely a great momentum builder for the team in preparation for the upcoming season. And winning the Stemley Cup was pretty spectacular because it is the first time we have won an event completely due to our robot.”
Ms. Bauer explained the Stemley Cup is a play on the Stanley Cup, named after science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “This was an unofficial exhibition event and is an event MSS has never participated in previously. And had to ask parents to drive the team to the competition in Hamilton.”
“The competition (which MSS was invited to attend) was held on Saturday (October 19) from 7 am to 7 pm,” said Ms. Bauer. She explained the first half of the competition included a round-robin tournament of games among the teams. “In the final alliances we were we chosen to be part of an alliance with OP (Oakland Park school in Stoney Creek), one of the best teams in the world, and the Waffles team out of Kingston, with the three teams forming the alliance.”
“It was a double elimination competition (in the finals) and we won every game we played in our alliance,” said Ms. Bauer. “In the championship final we played the No. 3 alliance team, in a best two out of three, with the teams using last year’s robot following the same challenge and game from last year’s robotics competition. “We won two straight games,” she said, noting the MSS team was focused on contributing to the alliance with its defence strategies. “Our team was in charge of defence for the most part.”
“Part of the reason we decided to take part in the event is that we have several new students on the team who have never had the opportunity to take part in this type of event before,” said Ms. Bauer. “And our drive team was made up of Grade 9-10 students, with Grade 12 student Xavi Mara as our drive coach. And had all Grade 9-10 student take turns driving the robot during the day. Our driver Jack Hartin (Grade 9) was driving our robot when we won the championship game.”
The MSS team won an award at the competition, the ‘Catalyst Assist Award,’ presented to a team that acted as best buddies and supported other teams during the competition. MSS was nominated for the award by the other teams at the event.
“It was kind of a Cinderella story for our team; we felt very honoured to be chosen for the alliance with the two other teams we played with, and were able to contribute meaningfully in the games, being able to keep other teams scores down with our defence in the games having team members support and help other teams improve with their strategies.”
There was a total of 28 teams at the competition in Hamilton, said Ms. Bauer. The MSS Metal Robotics team has over 35 team members this year, and about one-third of the team made the trip to Hamilton.
“Among the teams there were two teams that are in their first year of competition, they are brand new rookies in robotics, which is super cool,” continued Ms. Bauer.
The official kick off of the Robotics competition season will take place January 4, with the announcement of what participating teams have to do with their robot, the game format and strategies. “Our team will have eight weeks to get our robot up and running. We will be taking apart our old robot as we recycle the parts and electronics to use in our new robot. We will be documenting what went well in the past season and will be fundraising and looking for sponsorship for this season.”
This year’s MSS robotics team includes Leo Desjardins, Mady Keller, Kiki Lynch, Alex Wilson-Zegil, Connor McCarthy, Jack Hartin, Xavi Mara, Bazi Mara, Amara Wilson-Zegil, Kaden Jamieson, Isaac Quackenbush, Jacob Jones, Dylan Kuntsi, Ryan Kuntsi, Carson Stewart, Yana Bauer (mentor), Daphne Carr, Garrett Charbonneau, Willow Fogal, Venzel Fowler, Mckinley Fox, Hailee Harasym, Nevaeh Harper, Tanner Hooper, Jaleena Huang, Spencer Johnston, Robyn-Ashley McNaughton, Alexis McVey, Nate Meeker, Joseph Merrylees, Faer O’Leary, Samuel Pennings, Xander Thompson, Leith Ward and Emery Watson.
