The Ottawa Robot Competition aims at bringing engineering awareness to students in grades 5 to 8 by presenting a fun and instructive approach to problem solving.
Using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® kits, the students have around 10 weeks to design and build an autonomous robot in teams of two to five. They learn engineering concepts with the help of a mentor and come together to produce a working prototype. The teams compete during a one day event where they demonstrate the superiority of their robot by completing a challenge. They are also judged on a poster presentation, a written report, their team spirit, and their ability to answer judge’s questions.
Each team is provided with a description of the robot challenge as well as a set of rules. To help the students, workshops will be held by mentors to introduce concepts of robot design and programming. 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 the competition has steadily expanded since then, with new schools and challenges being added.
Ottawa Robotics Competition 2010
This year's competition will be held at Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School on May 29th.
View Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School in a larger map
One of the principles of the competition is that we supplement the cost of the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Robot Kits for the schools they get to keep them. 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 several years! We are also phasing out RCX kits as the competition moves towards only using NXT kits.
Prizes must be purchased for the winning teams, as well as T-shirts, certificates, and lunch for each participant. Facilities rental is also significant costs of the competition.
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, prizes, or discounts on services or facilities. Other forms of sponsorship include providing time for employees to mentor a team, snacks during the competition, or the offer of a company tour as a prize. Please visit our list of sponsors for this year’s competition or contact our sponsorship chair if you would like to make a donation.
Contact Us
- Rob Woolley, Robotics Competition Chair, rcwoolley@ieee.org
- Rosalyn Seeton, Robotics Competition Vice-Chair, seeton@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
- Laura Mutu, Webmaster, laura.mutu@ieee.carleton.ca
- Junzhe (Davy) Zou, Webmaster, jzou@ieee.carleton.ca
Competition Day Schedule:
The schedule for the competition day:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 9am | Registration Opens - Teams Submit Reports |
| 10am | Poster and Presentation Judging Begins |
| 11am to 12pm | NXT Sports Challenge Practice Time NXT Sumo Qualifying Heats |
| 12pm to 1pm | Lunch Break |
| 1pm | NXT Sports Challenge Begins RCX Sumo Qualifying Heats and Tournaments NXT Sumo Tournament Begins |
| 4pm | Awards Ceremony |
Competition Volunteers:
We are currently seeking volunteers!
This competition relies heavily on volunteers for planning, logistics, transportation, and expertise! More volunteers are needed to organize the competition ahead of time and to help on the day of. Please contact us if you would like to help!
LEGO®, MINDSTORMS®, RCX, NXT, and TECHNIC are registered trademarks of The LEGO Group. Ottawa Robotics Competition is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by the LEGO Group.
