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Dates for our winter Robot Programming Competitions will be announced soon!
Participation:
Youth form teams under the guidance of 1-2 coaches. Robot programming teams are youth-led, so coaches needn’t be knowledgeable in the technical side of robotics; rather, they focus on the logistical side of the team, and work to keep the youth on track and help them with the problem-solving process. Teams are often school based, coached by teachers and guardians, and funded by the school; however, many teams are parent-led, with members from their community or friends of their children.
Coaches/organizations are welcome to have multiple teams, so long as each team has their own robot.
Teams typically meet once or twice a week leading up to the competition to work on their strategy, programs, and materials for the event.
We are available throughout the season to offer information for the event-day, but also to provide clarity on the challenges, if needed. We also host free workshops to help teams prepare and connect with other groups.
Robofest (GAME):
Robofest teams are composed of 1-5 youth, competing in either the junior (gr.5-8) or senior (9-12) Game.
Please note that the competition we offer is called “Game.” Robofest has other challenge categories, so please be aware when navigating their website.
The Game asks teams to complete as much of a themed challenge as they can in 2 minutes. The challenge theme and rules will be released in late fall and will include a materials list, how points are scored, and the table set-up specifications. The instructions may indicate exact positions or possible ranges for objects' placement on the table, and note which details won’t be revealed until the day of the competition. Students will develop programs to anticipate these unknown tasks and factors (UTFs), and practice with multiple game scenarios. Teams will be given the UTFs at the beginning of a 30-minute, coach-free work period where they will adapt their programs to account for the new information. For senior teams, some information will remain unknown, so that they must make use of robot sensors to anticipate variations. After the work period, the robots will be impounded until it is their turn at the table, so that no team is advantaged with additional time to work on their robot or code.
Robofest registration instructions will be shared upon season release. You can find more information about starting a team here: https://robots.acadiau.ca/robofest.html
And here: https://www.robofest.net/index.php/current-competitions/game
Cost:
A breakdown of startup cost is available: https://robots.acadiau.ca/funding-and-expenses.html