Cybergnomes start strong

The Cybergnomes Robotics Team 2013 participated in their first regional competition at Durham College/University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa on March 6 and 7. They played an amazing set of matches, winning seven out of 10 qualifying games. Many of the top robots in the world were present, including the reigning World Champion.

Every competition involves 80 qualification matches to rank the teams. We finished seventh out of 48 in this ranking. The top eight teams get to choose alliances of three different teams (and their robots), and the alliances compete against one another in the elimination playoffs. The winner of two out of three matches moves on. We seeded seven out of 48 teams, captaining our own alliance into the quarter finals.

Sadly, we were beaten out of the quarter finals, two to one. But we went in strong and came out strong. Our robot impressed many people, firing two-ft exercise balls through an 11-ft high goal, often clearing the heads of the volunteers standing 20 feet back ready to catch them. Describing our team, the emcee remarked, “They have the strongest shooter, and maybe even the strongest drive train here today!” Our overall highest scoring match was 189 to 111.

Our next regional competition is in North Bay on Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29. If you would like to cheer us on, please go to www.watchfirstnow.com and follow the links to the North Bay Regional, or come out to Nippissing University in North Bay and support us! For more information, visit www.cybergnomes.ca.