The Ottawa Robot Competition aims at bringing engineeringawareness to students in grades 5 to 8 by presenting a fun and instructive approach to problem solving.
Using Robolab LEGO MINDSTORMS kits, the students have around 10 weeks to design and build an autonomous robot. In teams of five to ten, they learn engineering concepts with the help of a mentor and come together to produce a working prototype. At the end of the nine weeks, the teams compete during a one day event. They will have to demonstrate the superiority of their robot by completing a challenging race course.
They are also judged on a poster presentation and their ability to answer judge’s questions.
To help the students, each team is provided with a rule book explaining the robot challenge as well as the rules. New this year, the students’ progress will be monitored with the help of logbooks that the teams will have to submit to the organizing committee on set dates. Assistance will be provided for the teams in difficulty, so that each team has a working robot on the date of the competition.
History of the Competition
The competition started in 2003 with an effort from IEEE Ottawa members. Wanting to promote engineering to the younger generation, the dedicated team of organizers put together the event. Despite the challenges of organizing a competition for the first time, the first IEEE Ottawa Section Robotics Competition took place on April 27th, 2003. Five teams from four different schools competed at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The event was so successful that the following year, on April 25th, 2004, fourteen teams took part in the competition.
Past Competitions
The third competition in 2005 attracted a total of seventeen schools, and about twenty teams are expected for this year’s competition. Due to the return of experienced teams, the event will be divided this year: there will be a beginner’s challenge as well as a more advanced one.
Ottawa Robotics Competition 2009
One of the principles of the competition is that the schools keep the robot kits. This provides an incentive for schools to take part in the competition year after year, and raise the challenge for the advanced students. It also allows the teachers to become more familiar with the robot kits.
However, with the increasing interest in the competition comes an increasing need of LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Kits. Replacement parts are also needed for some of the older kits, some of which have been used for three years!
Prizes must also be purchased for the winning teams, as well as packages for each participant including rule booklets, T-shirts and general information.
All this wouldn’t be possible without the help of sponsors. In the past, help has been provided in the form of monetary gifts, robot kits or prizes. Other forms of sponsorship include providing time for employees to mentor a team, snacks during the competition, or offer a company tour as a prize.
Contact Us
- Mohammed Elbadri, Robotics Competition Chair, melbadri@ieee.org
- Rob Woolley, Robotics Competition Vice-Chair, rcwoolley@ieee.org
- Mohammed Elbadri, Robotics Competition Treasurer, melbadri@ieee.org
- Ian Dudley, Mentorship Chair and Robotics expert, ian.dudley@primus.ca
- Rami Abielmona, Sponsorship Chair, rabielmo@ieee.org
- Alan Stewart, Robotics expert and volunteer, alan@site.uottawa.ca
- Thomas Gourgon, Robotics expert and volunteer, tgourgon@meditech.ca
- Fernando Chen, Robotics Competition Webmaster, fchen@alumni.uottawa.ca
Competition Volunteers:
- Alan Quirt
- Elena Pascuet
- James Chou
- Rosalyn Seeton
- Tifenn Vialatte
