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Kelowna  

School robotics team in West Kelowna lands on podium

Robotics team makes history

The Mount Boucherie Bears robotics team made school history last weekend, taking second place at the Canadian Pacific regional competition in Victoria against more than 30 other teams.

The object of the event was to move objects with a student-designed robot, placing them in specific locations to score points. Some locations were worth more than others.

“Going into the qualifiers, we were excited but still extremely stressed about our robot, but the moment our team’s name was called for being on one of the finals teams, we were ecstatic,” said grade 10 team member Rowyn Tobin.

“We got to the final round and it was super exciting. Also very stressful though. Even though we got second place, we were all still super impressed that we even made it to the point that we did.”

With no limit on how much money teams could spend on their robot, MBSS was up against some stiff competition. But the team says their shift to a defensive style robot early in the week helped them take down teams with double, triple or even quadruple the funding they had.

“Their motor systems on the top three teams specifically were swerve motor systems, which are $20,000 for the entire system," added team captain Simon Telfer.

"We made about half that for our entire robot, so the more funding and the more support we can get from our community, the better. And overall, the more our robot and our team will succeed.”

From 13th place last year to second place this year, the team captain was blown away by their overall performance.

"This year, I was looking at the team and it was a ragtag bunch, I was the only returning member and I was like uh oh. But everybody pulled it together, they all pulled it together really nicely, and became one of the strongest teams I’ve ever been a part of. Getting second place in a regional qualifier is amazing, and I’m just proud of everyone on the team.”

The MBSS robotics team already has their sights set on making nationals in 2024 and will be in need of a sponsor. If you’d like to help the robotics team moving forward, you can contact the school.



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