Comox Valley Schools’ Robotics Teams Off To World Championships

Three Comox Valley Schools’ Robotics teams are off to the Vex Robotics World Championship in Dallas, Texas next month.

The teams pulled off very successful performances at the Island Regionals to move on.

Capping a long season of competitions spanning from October until March, the Vancouver Island Regional Championships took place Saturday, March 4 at Brentwood College School.

The challenge this year was called Spin Up, a robot version of frisbee golf, in which robots pick up palm-sized discs and fling them into an elevated net.

Their teacher and coach, Ryan Buchanan says the team members spent many long nights over the past 10 months building, coding, and testing their robots, adding it’s great to see their hard work and dedication pay off.

Robotics71 is a district-wide program offered to Comox Valley Schools students from all secondary and middle schools.

Steve Claassen, Vancouver Island Vex Robotics organizer and Comox Valley Schools Careers Coordinator, says the success of the students is a testament to the teachers of SD 71’s ENTER programs, physics, engineering, electronics, and robotics classes.

Vex Robotics is a worldwide competition with more than 11-thousand teams from 40 countries participating in over 750 tournaments.

The culmination of the season brings 800 of the top teams together to Dallas, Texas to eventually find the Vex Robotics World Champion.