[1]FIRST Robotics Canada [2] is pleased to announce that a total of 26 schools from Canada have qualified for the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. The competition starts today and runs until April 30th at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. This is the largest robotics competition in the world and we are proud that Canada will be represented by some of our brightest and most innovative students.
The following Canadian high school teams will compete at the FIRST Robotics 2011 World Championship:
- Governor Simcoe Secondary (St. Catharines) – GTA East Regional Chairman’s Award and GTA East, Waterloo and Pittsburgh Regional Winners
- St. Mildred’s Lightbourn Girls School (Oakville) – GTA West Regional Chairman’s Award and Pittsburgh NASA Engineering Inspiration Award
- Near North Student Robotics Initiative (North Bay) – Waterloo Regional Chairman’s Award
- Westlane Secondary (Niagara Falls) – GTA East and Pittsburgh Regional Winners
- Bishop Grandin Secondary (Calgary) – GTA East Regional Winner
- Orchard Park Secondary (Stoney Creek) – GTA West, Waterloo and Rochester Regional Winners
- Kincardine Secondary (Kincardine) – GTA West Regional Winner
- Trafalgar Castle Girls School (Whitby) – GTA West Regional Winner
- Sir Wilfred Laurier Secondary (London) – Waterloo Regional Winner and Rookie All Star Award
- Eastwood Collegiate (Kitchener) – Wisconsin Regional Winner
- Rick Hansen Secondary (Mississauga) – GTA East Engineering Inspiration Award
- Kingston Collegiate (Kingston) – GTA West Engineering Inspiration Award and New York City Regional Finalists
- Oakville Trafalgar High School (Oakville) – Waterloo Engineering Inspiration Award
- Oakridge Secondary (London) – GTA West Rookie All Star Award
- Woburn Collegiate (Toronto) – GTA East Regional Finalist
- Crescent School (Toronto) – GTA West Regional Finalist
- Algoma School Board (Sault Ste. Marie) – Previously Qualified
FIRST Robotics high school students were given six weeks to design, build and test a robot within size, weight, cost and other design guidelines. At the competitions, these robots must work cooperatively and in competition in a game that challenges the limits of the robots and the students. Some 340 teams out of 2,075 in total have qualified to attend the 2011 World Championship.
The following Canadian middle school teams will compete at the FIRST Lego League 2011 World Championship:
- Team 2359, The Hurricanes, Victoria, British Columbia
- Team 8405, The TechnoVikings, St. Mary’s, Newfoundland
- Team 529, The Three Blind Mice and Their Lost Cousin, Aylesford, Nova Scotia
- Team 2977, The TechnoSurgeons, Mississauga, Ontario
- Team 3663, The Sentinels, Oakville, Ontario
In total some 17,100 FLL teams from 57 countries participated in this year’s program.
The following Canadian middle school teams will compete at the FIRST Tech Challenge 2011 World Championship:
- Team 245, Roberts Creek Xtreme Robotic Minds, Roberts Creek, British Columbia
- Team 349, FIX IT, Victoria, British Columbia
- Team 521, BSS Thunder, Wainwright, Alberta
- Team 527, The Ghosts from Calgary, Alberta.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international non-profit organization designed to inspire students to pursue further studies and careers in science, engineering, computers and technology. Students develop skills in problem solving, innovation, leadership and teamwork as well as design, manufacturing, programming and testing. FIRST’s programs reach 250,000 students in 57 countries. FIRST Robotics Canada, a Canadian non-profit started in 2002, now reaches some 7,000 Canadian students.
FIRST Robotics Canada is supported by the Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario and is sponsored by Bruce Power, Hatch Limited, University of Toronto, Imperial Oil Foundation, TD Bank, Bell Canada, Magna International, SYNNEX Corporation, University of Waterloo, City of Mississauga, Johnson & Johnson, Yves Landry Foundation, Discovery Channel and others. The 2011 Waterloo Regional was sponsored by RIM, University of Waterloo, Toyota Canada, TD Bank, Discovery Channel and others. The 2011 FIRST LEGO League Ontario Championship was sponsored by Ontario Power Generation, RIM, UOIT and others.