PAST COMPETITIONS

Bombardier 2022

Montreal 2025

Robot Name:

Placed:

Rank 24

Bombardier 2022

Montreal 2024

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Robot Name:

Lefty

Placed: 2nd place alliance

Rank : 37

Bombardier 2022

Trois Rivieres 2023

Robot Name:

QuinnMobile

Placed:

Rank 7

Bombardier 2022

A Roller Coaster Competition With a Magic Chair!

LA Tech 4955 have just returned from their FRC competition in Trois Rivieres with a spring in their step and a host of memories to look back on.

The three-day event was a real roller coaster for the team, ranging from near despair on Thursday to elation on Saturday as our robot, the QuinnMobile, turned in shock after shock before we eventually bowed out at the semi-final stage.

Thursday is a practice and inspection day at these events, and it felt like anything that could go wrong did go wrong on that first day. Our robot arm, which was the main device we had for scoring, repeatedly broke as we made contact with the very solid game structures on the field and our inspection failed due to some issues with our bumpers. The team was obviously very low at this point but as a group, we decided the best thing to do would be to remove the arm and play the game differently to how we had intended; we would become a defensive robot. This change was achieved rapidly by our amazing pit crews under the leadership of mentor Jonathon De Luca. As for the bumpers, at 8 pm on Thursday night, we were running to Home Depot to buy the materials that we needed, and then the entire team joined in on making two new sets for the following day.

The following morning a bleary eyed team made our way to the Colisee Videotron for the qualification matches not too certain what the day would hold. Our first step was to pass inspection which our new bumpers did easily and we were cleared to compete.

After negotiation with our alliance partners we decided to deploy a mostly defensive strategy before balancing on the charging station at the end of the match. These tactics worked perfectly and we had our first win in qualifying. After this, the good times just kept on rolling under the supervision of our mentor Gary Kennedy with our drive team doing a stellar job in making some really good robots look very ordinary. Our style and reputation gained some notice as the day went on and we became known as the Magic Chair! No obvious way of scoring but we kept on winning.

By the time qualification ended on Saturday we had a 7 and 2 record and qualified in 7th place out of 46 teams, a great achievement considering we were competing against teams from the US, France, China, Taipei and Turkey as well as across Quebec.

This meant that we became an alliance captain and had to choose 2 other teams to compete with us in the play off rounds. With the help of our scouting team we were able to make a wise choice and went with team 2220 Twilight Blue from Minnesota and our very own team 3985 Sonic Howl from La Salle.

The alliance worked really well together and far exceeded everyone’s expectations in eventually making it all the way to the semi final stage before we were beaten. A fabulous effort in trying circumstances made all the sweeter by being able to share it with our friends from Sonic Howl and earning that sobriquet of The Magic Chair!

Bombardier 2022

Robot Name:

Mavis Quinn Zelensky

Placed:

Rank 2

Bombardier 2022

First Competition After Covid

This year's competition was held at Bombardier in Montreal, where many of our team members experienced an FRC competition for the first time. The set-up was incredible and everyone was very friendly while being competitive.

When arriving at the competition with our robot, Mavis Quinn Zelensky, we had no idea what to expect. Many of us were overwhelmed and excited. This year's motto was KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. We went with a simple and effective design, and every time we were faced with a problem we took a deep breath and implemented the most logical solution. To our pleasant surprise, our beautiful robot stunned it's opponents!

Here's what our Team Captain Samatha DeLuca had to say about the competition;

"When first coming back to Robotics after 2 years, I was intimidated by how much I missed and how much I had to learn. New people were joining, and a new mindset was brought to our team. From deciding what we wanted our robot to do, all the way to actually completing the build was a long but worthwhile process. I am beyond proud of our team and what we’ve accomplished throughout our season; completing our bot with time to spare, helping our community, and having fun during those little breaks.

I am immensely proud of how we all came together as a team after starting out practically as strangers. Everyone collaborated as a dedicated team and worked extremely hard on the bot. I would like to sincerely congratulate each one of you. Our team is like a family, and I hope that next year you can all continue to be as close and committed as we are now.

Thank you to all the mentors who always took time out of their day to help teach us different skills - Mr. Preston for always encouraging us to be the best we can be, John for helping us become more confident in our team, Ms. Sherri for providing us with food, Gary for helping us with any and all questions we had, Mr. Nicholson for always being available to support us, Mr. Barre for woodworking expertise, Souly for guidance in electrical work, Mr. Coté who does all, and a special mention to my Dad who was always ready to help and so many others in our Lakeside community for always being there for us. Each of you are an integral part of what holds our team together and gives it strength, even if you don’t believe it. You helped us create the best bot we could and always guided us through difficult tasks. Your constant helpfulness and moral support made our team better. Thank you all for making Nico’s, Gavin’s and my own last season, a season to remember.

Thank you to all those who followed our journey and cheered us on.

Your Captain,

Sami "

All in all this year's competition was fun, perplexing, and riveting. We can't wait till next year's competition where we hope to do better than we did this year! And although we say goodbye to our wonderful Captain Samantha, Vice Captain Nico, and Electronics major Gavin, we're left with their imprint and influence. Thanks for a terrific competition and an amazing year!

QUEBEC CITY 2019

Robot Name:

Long Boi Lennie

Placed:

22nd Overall

Made Semi-Finals

A WEEKEND OF FIRSTS

Wow, the robotics season ended on a real high for LA Tech at the first ever Festivale de Robotique to be held in Quebec City.

After a solid showing in the Montreal event we went to Quebec knowing that all our hard work would make us more competitive at this second event of the season for us, but also well aware that the opposition would likely be of a higher calibre as well. The presence of teams from Australia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and the U.S. only added to the excitement of the challenge.

The Thursday began early with us leaving Lakeside at 4:30 am to make the trip up to Quebec. We went straight to the competition venue, Centre de Foires, and began setting up the pit and working on the robot. It quickly became apparent that all the adaptations we had made during the build were not going to fit easily onto our robot and that a lot of small, time consuming adjustments were going to be required.

The pit crew put in a massive amount of hard work but by 4pm we were still struggling and the decision had to be made to abandon our climbing mechanism in order to pass inspection and be ready to compete the following morning. Inspection was duly passed but we were left with no time to test any of the mechanisms, and it was a very tired and slightly dispirited group that made it to the Hotel Quartier for the night.

The following morning we were ready to compete and made it onto the field for our first game, not entirely sure what to expect. Our main drive team of Lex Sutton and Skye Miller made a great job of adapting to the changes to the robot. It was a very happy group who made it back to the hotel that evening as we ended the day of qualification matches in 12th place.

The Saturday morning set off with a bit of bad luck and by the time alliance selection was set to begin we were in 22nd place with a 5-5-1 record. This left us not really knowing if we would be selected for the alliances in the finals so we waited nervously as the selections were made. In the second round of picks the seventh place alliance asked for us to join them leading to great scenes in the stands as we realised the adventure went on, and it was with genuine pride that captain Keanu was able to go on the field and accept.

Our 7th place alliance was set to play the 2nd place alliance in a best-of-three matches quarterfinal round. Though we were not favoured to win, a great choice of strategy with us playing a counter-defense game, gave us an upset win and we moved on to the semi-finals.

In the semis we were up against the number three alliance who had looked very strong in their quarter final win. Despite this, we manage to win the second game, forcing them to a third deciding game. This time our good fortune ended, but were able to bow out with our heads held high, having lost to the eventual winners.

The final icing on the cake of this competition was that we were awarded a runners up medal in the safety award category, our first award of any sort at the senior competition. All in all an incredibly successful competition and a great weekend made possible by a lot of hard work, some fantastic mentors, great sponsors and most importantly a really good bunch of kids.