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Robotics teams head to St. Louis to compete by Dominik Kurek Oakville Beaver Staff 11 | Friday, April 19, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The Oakville community should be proud of the achievements by some of its youngest members. Several local robotics teams are headed to the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri April 24-28 after qualifying in regional competitions. Both the King's Christian Collegiate Mechcavaliers (Team 4519) and the Red Devils (Team 1334) have qualified for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) at the worlds, though they faced different challenges to get there. Joining the two high school-based teams at the world festival will be an elementary school team from Oakville's E-Bots. The Socialites, as the E-Bot team calls itself, has qualified in the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competition, for students aged nine to 14. The Socialites competed at the Ontario Provincials competition in, winning the event earlier this year. The Mechcavaliers, a newcomer to robotics, competed at the Waterloo Regional FRC tournament in March where it went toe-to-toe with some established teams. The team picked up the Rookie All-Star and Highest Rookie Seed awards. By placing as the top newcomer team to the competition, the Mechcavaliers earned a berth at the worlds. "We're all really proud of the work we did. I think we're all still in a bit of shock at the fact that we were able to put so much work into the robot school year, robotics was in jeopardy, but the team did not give up. For this year, the OT students were joined by White Oaks and Abbey Park high school students and high school students out of Appleby College. The robot was built at Sheridan College and the Oakville Yacht Squadron loaned the team its clubhouse for practices. The team competed at the Western Canada FRC in Calgary, Alta., picking up awards, including the Excellence in Engineering Award. Later, it competed at the Greater Toronto West regional competition at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, where it won the Engineering In#1 in Patios & Driveways! spiration Award and the Imagery Award. OT student Sam Thompson received the FIRST Dean's List Finalist Award. This year's FRC competition had teams build robots that could shoot Frisbees into targets around the field and be able to either hang from or climb a pyramid made of bars. The Red Devils robot was able to rapid fire the discs into the targets and climb the pyramid and dunk four more Frisbees. The Mechcavalieres had the same challenge, which Sparling said the team was able to do well. The Mechcavaliers received mentorship from the Holy Trinity Tronic-Titans. Like us on The Mechcavaliers (Team 4519) robot is seen here in action at a local competition. | submitted photo J.M.C Concrete Interlocking LTD · Free Estimates · 24 hour service and into the business aspects of the team and get this far," said Rachel Sparling, a Grade 10 student at King's Christian and junior team co-captain and communications leader for the Mechavaliers. "We're really excited just to get to go there. We're hoping we'll be able to do Rookie All-Star for the overall world, but there's a lot of teams going so we're just happy to be getting to go." The Red Devils, an established team out of Oakville Trafalgar High School, has had its own difficulties. As extracurricular activities were cut by teachers in public high schools earlier this · STAMPED CONCRETE · INTERLOCKING · EXPOSED AGGREGATE · FLAGSTONE · FRENCH CURBS · RETAINING WALLS · GARAGE FLOORS · FREE ESTIMATES for 905-878-8595 Ask John WWW.JMCCONCRETE.CA EXPERIENCE THE HALTON VACUUM DIFFERENCE Great Value Performer SPRING CLEANUP PROMOTION · 500 air watts · Powerful enough for most homes · Electric Powerhead and hose · Complete set of attachments INTRODUCING $ 5 Model #SC200 only 499 $ OFF M.S.R.P. $770.00 99 625 · · · · 625 Air Watts of Cleaning Power Self-Cleaning Filter for ease of maintenance Serenity quiet operation 10 year motor warranty COMPLETE WITH BEAM BASIC POWERHEAD AND HOSE KIT... from a new line of quality vacuum cleaners MAXIMUS CANISTER · 10 AMPS of power · HEPA filtration · Tools on board · Turbo carpet brush · 7 year motor warranty $ only Model #0020E 699 99 $ $1249.00 $ Model #EL4200 only Save 270 Save 550 OFF M.S.R.P. 399 DU ND AS ST .E . 99 $ Save 100 OFF M.S.R.P. $499.99 *Not exactly as illustrated. SALES · SERVICE · SELECTION · QUALITY BRANDS · INSTALLATION www.haltonvac.ca Mon.-Fri.10-5:30 Sat. 10-3, Sun. CLOSED UP PE R Voted DU ND AS (at Dundas), Oakville 905-257-6145 Beside Scotia Bank TR AF AL GA Best Vacuum Store RR D. Since 1999 Voted Best Customer Service M ID DL ER D. E. ST .W . Clean Starts Here! HALTON'S TRUSTED FLOOR CARE SPECIALISTS! Trafalgar Ridge Shopping Centre 2379 Trafalgar 2379 Trafalgar Road Rd. (in the Winners/HomeSense plaza) (905) 257-6145 N