Supplied… Sixty schools, including five from the Sault, attended the annual VEX Robotics Provincial Championships this past Saturday in St. Catharines.  This year’s game, a 2-on-2 basketball game, combined programming and driver skills in 2-minute matches.

Korah Intermediate School’s grade 8 team, “IKOR”, was the top Sault team, earning an overall 3rd place finish during qualifying, one of only 3 teams to go undefeated.  This gave them “Alliance Captain” status in the playoff draft, where they chose Korah’s senior team, the “Coltbotics” (9th overall at 6Wins-1Loss) and 17th-ranked Brampton “Vikings”, another strong shooter, as their third alliance partner.  Impressively, IKOR was the only Middle School (Grades 6-8) team to qualify for the Provincials this year, and surprised everyone by obtaining the rare “Playoff Alliance Captain” status.   Superior Heights C & VS also had two teams; the “BD Boyz” who finished in 36th, and their partner team, the, “VEX-Men”, in 48th.  The rookie team from St. Mary’s; the “Knights and Bolts” finished in 46th.  Expectedly, none of these three Sault teams were drafted for the playoffs.    During those playoffs, bad luck struck Korah’s alliance.  The Coltbotics’ robot broke a speed encoder right out of the gate, causing its shooter to fire over the basket for most of its shots.  This led to their alliance to lose their opening match 191-144 forcing them into a second match must-win situtation.  IKOR hit the field for the next match but their robot had its own gremlins, with a bad motor code causing it to go around in circles during its opening seconds.  They wrestled control back but struggled and lost the game and the quarter final and were eliminated from the playoffs.

The Sault teams did not go home empty handed however, with the IKOR winning the “BUILD” trophy, a major judging award that recognizes strong and effective build and design qualities in their robot.  The “VEX-Men” were also nominated top-3 for the “Innovate” Award (for Innovative design solutions), barely missing out on that trophy.

While none of the Sault teams won an invitation to the World Championships, all five teams had impressive overall performances, with two teams going on to the playoffs and for the first time in this league, bringing home a major trophy.

The Northern Ontario league would like to thank Algoma District School Board, Tenaris Algoma Tubes, Sault College, The Professional Engineers of Ontario, O.Y.A.P., Staples and Steelworkers Local 2724 for their assistance and support in making the Northern Ontario district VEX and VEX IQ programs the largest growing program in the province.

The Provincial results are posted at: http://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/re-vrc-16-3709.html