Middle-schoolers excel at robotics competition

By Mark Ribble

Grade 7 and 8 students at Cardinal Carter Catholic Middle School have spent the past three months designing and building robots aimed at innovative solutions to modern problems with an eye on energy.

A total of 18 teams formed since the begin ning of the school year and at the end of the com petition, they all deserved a big round of applause for their innovation, cre ativity and work ethic.

The Cougar Botics com petition was held in as sociation with First Lego League, which introduces students to real-world en gineering challenges.

The event itself was held over two days — No vember 28 and 29, with the closing ceremonies in the gym on the afternoon of November 29.

Finalists in two catego ries — Core Values and Innovation — were asked to present their projects and also compete in a ro botics table.

Ideas such as a mobile truck-based EV charger, a downspout and gut ter clogging solution, a hat that cools you while you work out, and back up float valve to prevent basement flooding were all innovative ideas that can be used in the real world and the students came up with creative solutions for real prob lems.

When the dust settled, awards were given to winners in each of three categories — Innovation, Core Values and Robotics and then first-and-second place overall to two lucky teams who went on to represent Cardinal Carter at the regional competi tion at St. Clair College December 3.

The Innovation winners were the Electric Charged team for their mobile charging truck idea.

The Core Values winner was the Magnetic Millers, who came up with a more efficient way of making flour with a magnetic grist mill idea.

The Robotics winner was Rainy Leaves, who did very well on the ro botics table and also pre sented their newly de signed ‘spotless spout’ idea to help with gutter clogging problems.

Overall, second place was taken by Torrent Turners, who designed a new float valve backup for flooding basements.

The overall winner was the Rainy Leaves team for their combination of their innovative solution and their dominance on the robotics table.

The competition had support from Canadian Tire Leamington and the Leamington Rotary Club.

The Rainy Leaves took top spot in Robotics and also were the overall winners of the Cougar Botic competition.

Electric Charged took top spot in Innovation with their mobile charging truck.

Magnetic Millers took top prize in the Core Values category for their magnetic grist mill idea.

Torrent Turners took second overall with their float valve invention.