Main photo: The Hoya Robotics team and mentors at a FIRST Robotics event at Durham College (back from left) Scott Taylor (mentor), Sydney Taylor, Ethan McKee, Oliver Byl, Noah Morgan, Dave Topps (mentor), Jeff Waller, Megan Cameron, Josh Trask (mentor), Nolan Meehan, Liam Martin-McTavish, Jakob Heinz (mentor), Sam Topps, Caden Leadston, Scott Chapeskie (mentor), Nancy Topps (mentor), Gord Mitchell (mentor), Paula Boon (mentor), Victoria Russell, Ian McTavish (teacher); <\/em>(front row from left) Morghan Kiverago, Keira Brisebois, Andrea Bonafini, and David Sinton<\/em> (supplied)<\/em><\/p>\n “It was a phenomenal weekend.”<\/p>\n That’s how Ian McTavish, HHS teacher and mentor to the Hoya Robotics team described a competition at Durham College held last weekend. The event was a qualifier for the FIRST Robotics provincial championships\u2014the first of two that the team planned to compete in\u2014and in addition to their robot performing better than ever before, the team won a prestigious award that earned them an automatic pass to the provincials.<\/p>\n The Hoyas had a tough start to the competition\u2014they were up against a former world championship team for their first matches on Saturday and although they lost all four of them, the HHS team finished within two points of their opponents, said teacher and mentor, Ian McTavish.<\/p>\n The team won their next three matches of the day, but took a hit in the final match that damaged their robot. So on Sunday morning, they got to work on repairs before competing in an additional five matches, the first four of which they won.<\/p>\n “Throughout the entire competition we were averaging a minimum of around 25 points and as high as 36 points per match,” said McTavish. “To put that in perspective, there were a lot of matches that were scored at under 35 points. So if our robot is contributing that many points, we are doing really well.”<\/p>\n Hoya Robotics 4152 and GHS (Gravenhurst High School) Robotics 6864 prepare for the sandstorm portion of a match in which they are driving their robot blind (@hhs4152\/Twitter)<\/p><\/div>\n Next, the top teams formed alliances for the remaining rounds of competition and the Hoyas were picked by the third-ranked alliance. They performed well in the quarter-finals and moved on to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n “In the semi-finals we were getting targeted because [the other alliance] knew that we were generating the most points, so they dedicated a robot simply to blocking us as much as they could,” says McTavish. “We had some hard-fought battles. In our last game our robot ended up on top of one of the balls and the ball punctured and got into our drive train which slowed us down a bit and that\u2019s all it took to lose the match, unfortunately.”<\/p>\n The Hoya Robotics team just about to start a match. Their robot is 4152, and team members are visible on the other side of the wall. (supplied)<\/p><\/div>\n Although they were eliminated in the semi-finals, the team still had a shot at a ticket to the provincials: there are two awards that guarantee that a team will move on. The Hoyas won one of them, the Engineering Inspiration Award, which “celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team\u2019s school or organization and community” and includes the “extent and effectiveness of the team\u2019s community outreach efforts,” according to the FIRST website. FIRST is an international youth organization that places a heavy emphasis on promoting STEM careers; its name is an acronym of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. To receive the award is an honour.<\/p>\n “That was exciting,” says McTavish. “They talked about the fact that our robot competes in things like Band on the Run, and how we are running robotics courses in our school and have helped other high schools in our board start robotics courses and robotics teams, and the LEGO robotics events that we run in December.”<\/p>\n Hoya Robotics received the Engineering Inspiration Award for their community outreach efforts (Ian McTavish)<\/p><\/div>\n “This is definitely our best machine that we have ever built, and our best driving,” notes McTavish. “The biggest thing for us is that in the past two years we\u2019ve really implemented new training strategies, and new building strategies.”<\/p>\n McTavish adds that there were two game changers for the team this year: a temporary practice field<\/a><\/span> at Huntsville Place Mall built with the help of Lovegrove Construction, and a CNC router purchased with the support of sponsors like Kimberly-Clark, the Parry Sound Muskoka Community Network, and Duncan Ross Architect.<\/p>\n (Below) The team practices hatch delivery (video) and puts those skills into use in competition (photo)<\/em><\/p>\n Hatch mechanism delivery. pic.twitter.com\/Vksr7rtutN<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hoya Robotics 4152 (@hhs4152) February 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Hoya](\"https:\/\/media-doppleronline-ca.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com\/2019\/03\/sandstorm.jpg\")
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