Brampton Robotics is gearing up to defend their world championships for the elementary and high school categories at the VEX Worlds competition in Louisville, Kentucky starting April 19th.
The accomplishments of the grassroots group last year were impressive, beating out teams from across the world in the DiscoBots competitions to win in the elementary school and high school categories. The competition itself broke the Guinness World Record for world’s largest robotic competition with 1,400 teams.
As the countdown begins for the world’s largest robotic competition, eight teams at Brampton Robotics are set for this year’s VEXÂ Worlds competition.
The group is sending three high school teams, two middle school teams, two elementary school teams and a university team. For the elementary and middle school teams in the VEX IQ Challenge, the object is to attain the highest score in the Crossover competition by scoring Hexballs in colored scoring zone, and by parking and balancing robots on a bridge. For the middle school, high school and university teams in the VEX Robotic Competition and VEX U, the object is to attain a higher score in the Starstruck competition than the opposing Alliance by scoring stars and cubes in the team zones and by hanging robots on a hanging bar.
Local resident Pankaj Saxena is the founder of the non-profit group and has seen tremendous interest from students and parents who want a practical way to build science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. Saxena says that “we wanted the older kids to start helping the younger ones and at least pass on that knowledge to the younger generation.” He adds that “robotics is the future as industries are moving towards automation and it is important that our kids learn about the future.”
What makes Discobots teams world class? They collaborate, innovate and get ideas and insights from robotic teams around the world. Last year’s VEX Worlds had 15,000 students from 30 countries.Â
Discobots VEX IQ teams have been consistently winning provincial championships for the last three years and also have a strong track record in local and international competitions. Brampton Robotics has added two more programs for kids. VEX U is a new addition for university students. The group has also started to compete in the First Robotics Competition to open up more STEM learning and scholarship opportunities for students in the community.Â
