Robotics
For over ten years, many students have been participating in the Marianopolis Robotics Team. The students' enthusiasm for this project is overwhelming and the benefits to them are many. This project allows students to develop skills in science, mathematics, computer programming & design, basic machining and engineering outside of the traditional classroom setting. They also develop teamwork and leadership skills. In addition, their experience can be used for the Épreuve Synthèse requirements in Science or Honours Science since it is highly interdisciplinary in scope. This project has an intrinsic evaluation component as the students are judged by professional educators, scientists and engineers in the competitions, and they receive a "grade" for their work. The report, the abstract and the documentation all form part of the overall evaluation.
The current 2007-2008 Robotics Team, comprised of 26 participants, have registered to take part in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) International Robotics Competition to be held in Toronto, March 27-29, 2008.
The FIRST Robotics competition is an internationally recognized challenge with over 1300 teams competing at different branches world-wide. The objective each year is to build a robot that is capable of playing a game, in which teams cooperate to score points. The specifics of this year’s game will be announced to the participants on January 5th, 2008.
The students also develop entrepreneurial skills as the competition rules specify that all the expenses related to the project have to be funded through fundraising projects and initiatives. Our thanks this year go out to our generous sponsors: THALES Canada, Genome Quebec, and McGill University. The continued support of the Marianopolis College Plan for Success and the IT Team are also acknowledged. In addition, we would like to thank our committed mentors and coordinators: John Charlton (Loyola College), Aleks Labuda, Roland Bennewitz, Pascal Boursequin (McGill University), Patrick Cadotte, Philippe Molaret, Patrizia Di Lillo (THALES Canada), and Haig Djambazian (Genome Quebec).
Others are most welcome!
To learn more about the Marianopolis FIRST Robotics Project, please contact
Rocco Iafigliola, Project Coordinator, at r.iafigliola@marianopolis.edu.
Interested in knowing more about FIRST? Please visit the following sites:
http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/site/index.php
http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/toronto
