Three Area Robotics Team Qualify for World Championships

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Three Northern Ontario Teams make it to World Championships.
Eleven teams from the Algoma district travelled to Mississauga to compete amongst the top 47 qualifying teams in Ontario, for the chance to represent the province at the World Championships.
In the main Teamplay event, F.H. Clergue’s “iSMaK” finished in 5th in the round robin qualifiers, with Tarentorus Tigers in 19th, so both teams advanced to the playoff finals. Notre Dame’s Grand Loups finished in 22nd, followed by Blind River Bot Builders in 26th, Thessalon Thunder in 27th, and Team Missanabie in 28th, but these teams failed to qualify for the playoffs.
In playoff action, the Tigers teamed up with Toronto’s “Crescent Robotics K” team as the 10th-ranked alliance pair and posted a strong 144 point score in their final, bumping past three of the higher alliances to move them up to 7th overall. Meanwhile, iSMaK partnered with North York’s “SK-Creations” to create the 3rd ranked alliance and scored a very high 188 points, to finish in second place overall – taking home the silver medal and top finish for Algoma Teams.
In the individual robot Skills Challenge (single robot driver and programming skills) rankings, the top Algoma Team was “Grands Loup” in 4th, with their sister team the Petits Loups in 8th. iSMak came in 13th, Thessalon Thunder in 15th and The Bot Builders finished 22nd. As Elementary division teams (grades 3 to 5), the Petits Loups team’s Skills score ranks them 2nd in Canada (170th in the World) with the Thessalon Thunder finishing 5th in Canada (269th in World), and Team Missanabie ranked 8th in Canada (487th in the World). In the Middle School age group (grades 6 to 8), the Grand Loup’s finish ranked them 6th in Canada (238th in World), and iSMak ranks 12th in Canada (259th in World).
The Awards ceremony commenced after the Teamplay finals and Algoma would be in the mix for several awards. When the Design Award, the top Engineering judging award, was called out, the winners were: F.H. Clergue’s iSMak. This award earns iSMak their invitation to the World Championships.
After the final awards were finished, the Wildcard World Invitations were given to the top-ranked Skills Challenge teams in Canada who were not already chosen for World’s. Two more Algoma teams were added to the World Championships, with Notre Dame Grands Loups winning the Middle School Wildcard invite and then the Petites Loups team took the Elementary division Wildcard, so both Notre Dame teams also advance to the World VEX IQ Robotics Championships.
This prestigious event will see the top 400 elementary school teams from 42 countries around the world, all meeting in Louisville Kentucky April 29th to May 1st. The IQ tournament will commence immediately after the high school championships concludes, where Algoma’s Lone Wolf Robotics will compete in their second World’s event.