Burgeoning engineers from Kitimat schools demonstrated their technological prowess April 21 at the Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School (MEMSS) gymnasium in a spirited Zone01 Robotics competition. Thirty-one teams competed in two distinct categories, each demanding a unique type of robot designed to tackle specific challenges.
In the Sumo category, robots equipped with front-facing sensors battled to locate and eject their opponents from the ring. St. Anthony’s teams dominated, with the Building Good team securing first place, closely followed by their WASP competitor in second place.
Meanwhile, the Jurassic category tested precision and adaptability, requiring robots to navigate obstacles and score points by completing multiple tasks on the field. Nechako School’s students excelled, with Jacob Davis taking home the first-place prize, and teammates Matthew Illyuschenko and Cruz Lopez placing second. The third spot was claimed by The Shredders team from École Mountainview.
The top performers in the Jurassic category earned the opportunity to represent their schools at the National Robotics Competition in Montreal this May. Two high school students from MEMSS participated last year, compared to three from Nechako this year.
Zone01 Robotics, a not-for-profit organization, spearheads regional competitions across Canada with four main objectives: promoting technology in education to boost student retention, supporting teachers in integrating robotics into their curriculum, facilitating interaction among robotics enthusiasts and developing competitive robotics platforms nationally.
Seven schools participated this year, including Ecole Mountainview, Haisla Community School, Kildala, Nechako, Skeena Middle School, St. Anthonys and Uplands Elementary School.
About 120 students participated, assisted by about 15 coaches and three judges from Rio Tinto (who also supplied pizza for the hungry gathering).
In this fifth year of competition, it is the first time that MEMSS and KCH did not enter any teams.
