Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The robotics team from a Montreal high school delivered quite a performance at the World Championship held in April in the United States, which even earned them an honorary distinction from the National Assembly.
Thanks to its double victory at the Montreal Robotics Festival, Express-O, the Saint-Laurent school robotics team has obtained a pass for the World Robotics Championship in the United States. The ten students of the 3e at the 5e secondary therefore flew to Texas to face the 456 best teams in the world, from 38 countries, including none other than NASA.
Photo Denis Germain, special collaboration
The Saint-Laurent high school robotics team received honorary certificates from the National Assembly.
In addition to ranking 23e ranking among the 75 teams in its division, Express-O won the Inspiration prize at the FIRST Techno Challenge, the event’s ultimate distinction, thanks to its robot able to instantly imitate the actions of human pilots, but also to use its three-degree cannon capable of tracking a target in real time.
Saint-Laurent School was the only one to represent Quebec at the World Championship. “Express-O has impressed several teams with its various mechanisms, its mechanical design and its programming algorithms”, rejoices its teacher in charge, Bruno Bastos.
The project is far from being limited to the construction of robots of different sizes. By getting involved throughout the year, sometimes seven days a week, the young people were able to develop many skills, such as project management and cooperation.
A “second family”
For 16-year-old Olivia, who dreams of becoming a computer engineer, programming and coding have been a place of discovery. “I loved working with algorithms and databases to develop the sight, the eyes, of our robot. »
Despite a real crush on programming, her thirst for learning encouraged her to move on to another field next year. “It’s a concrete application of what we’ve learned over the year from the various mentors and I’d really like to learn new things. »
For her part, Maria-Clara, 14, was responsible for assembling the robot. The experience of the championship was a real revelation.
In the United States, we were competing against the best robotics teams in the world. The experience was great, in addition to bringing us all closer. Express-O is like our second family now.
Maria-Clara, 14, member of the robotics team at Saint-Laurent high school
They both claim to want to prepare, as of this summer, for next year’s competition. “We will try to improve and practice this summer to be even better next year! »
Taking advantage of a robotics mentoring program, the students were accompanied by five volunteer mentors from various large companies such as Bombardier.
Photo Denis Germain, special collaboration
Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy presented honorary certificates to members of the Saint-Laurent high school robotics team. At his side, in the photo, the mentor Bruno Bastos.
For their responsible teacher, the various distinctions obtained “prove that the public school is capable of doing extraordinary things. It also shows young people that engineering, programming and technical drawing, for example, are professions of the future, concrete and fun, for which you earn a very good living.
On May 20, all team members received honorary certificates from the National Assembly, hand-delivered by the MNA for Saint-Laurent, Marwah Rizqy, to underline their remarkable performances over the past year.