On Saturday 6 May 2023, HNMCS Robotics hosted the first-ever EmpowHER event led by girls for girls! Over 20 girls from all around Ontario joined us. The free event included FLL robot matches, icebreaker games, EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) activities, and more! To begin, the girls as a team built teamwork through completing the JEDI Tower Challenge and the JEDI Race. In these challenges, every member of the team contributed, encouraged, and worked together to complete the challenges.
In these teams, the girls had the opportunity to code on Lego Spike whether they had coding experience or not. They took time to get comfortable with coding by going over movements, motors, sensors, light/sound, and line following. The girls had the chance to communicate with skilled coders and our judges: Ms. Mathews, Mr. Jaggernauth, Ms. Ko, and Ms. Susel. After learning about coding, they coded the robots for an FLL tournament as a team. The goal for the FLL tournament was to line-follow using the colour sensors. In the end, the teams presented their code for the robot to each other. Each team designed and created a unique robot. The girls also had the chance to drive the FRC robot. The girls had fun learning about equity, diversity, and inclusion from each other through the event!
HNMCS Robotics had an outstanding performance at the Provincial Competition over the Easter weekend at First Ontario Centre, Hamilton. During this three-day event, the team showcased how they strive to change the perspective of STEM to the executives of the FIRST Robotics Program, and they also demonstrated excellent teamwork as the drive team swerved through obstacles and scored game pieces with our expertly engineered robot.
Moreover, they are thrilled to announce that their lead mentor, Dr. Kozma, won the prestigious Woodie Flower Award for her outstanding commitment to inspiring and empowering youth. The award celebrates the effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design, making this a remarkable life-time achievement, as the team is proud to have such an exceptional mentor leading this inspiring team.
This has been a fantastic season for HNMCS Robotics. They are thrilled to share that they have won four awards, two blue banners, and achieved first in the Ontario District Georgian College Event.
HNMCS Robotics is a proud girl-powered team, and they regularly host various outreach initiatives that strive to promote and connect youth to individuals in STEAM. The team’s efforts has earned them many amazing awards, such as the Engineering Inspiration Award; an award that celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community. As well as the Judge’s Award; an award where judges recognize a team’s unique efforts, performance, or dynamics merit, during the competition. The team has worked incredibly hard to achieve this success, and they could not be more proud of the dedication, passion, and hard work of all the members on the team.
As the robotics season draws to a close, HNMCS Robotics is not slowing down. Instead, they are actively working on initiatives that aim to CONNECT with communities, CREATE new opportunities, and CHANGE the perspective of STEM.
On May 6th, HNMCS Robotics will be hosting an all-girls STEM event, EmpowHER, that seeks to promote JEDI values (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and inspire girls to pursue STEM fields by creating a supportive environment. This event highlights the team’s commitment to increasing diversity and inclusivity in STEM fields by encouraging more girls to participate. HNMCS Robotics recognizes the importance of empowering underrepresented groups in STEM and is taking active steps to create a more equitable and inclusive future for all.
HNMCS Robotics is continuing their mission of creating meaningful connections with communities through their upcoming Indigenous Connection Festival on May 15th and 16th. This event will focus on connecting with Mangilaluk School, Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories and teaching the grade 7 class coding basics using Scratch. This event not only provides an opportunity for the team to share their knowledge and skills with others, but it also demonstrates their commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) values by actively engaging and collaborating with underrepresented groups in STEM. In addition to sharing their expertise, HNMCS Robotics has made this event a “handshake” event, where the students from Tuktoyaktuk will teach them environmental awareness in return, promoting a mutual exchange of knowledge and ideas. Through initiatives like the Indigenous Connection Festival, HNMCS Robotics is demonstrating their dedication to creating a more inclusive and equitable world.
During March Break after the past couple of weeks, HNMCS Robotics has been busy tweaking our 2023 robot, “Lightning Queen ” and preparing for the McMaster Event the first weekend of April. Mechanically we have geared down our intake arm to easily manipulate cones in addition to cubes. We also replaced the belt drive with a chain drive. In software, we’ve added features to reduce the need for human reaction and fine-tuned our autonomous routine. We used the position sensor of the FalconFX motor to speed up the manual drive of the arm. We have also added position control with cruise velocity and acceleration limits using PID (proportional, integral derivative feedback loop) to reduce the need for operator manipulation and increase speed and accuracy. With one button the arm will go to the target position to intake from the human position, to drop off at the mid-level or to tuck in safely in the robot’s frame. We have been pleased with the success of our hybrid node delivery during autonomous and now we have updated the routine to successfully clear the cable protector.
On March 5, 2023, HNMCS Robotics broke history. As one of three all-girls teams in Canada, the team stepped up into the spotlight representing girls globally. They left the event as winners and a two-time recipient of the Engineering Inspiration Award.
For the past eight weeks, HNMCS Robotics has worked hard to design and build a robot. The mentors and students dedicated their lunch periods and weekends to building the robot and field elements. The team sought innovative ways to build the robot. By integrating robotics into the school curriculum of computer science and physics, students actively worked on programming the autonomous period and the pneumatic system. Thanks to their sponsors, K-Tool, Pratt & Whitney, SOLIDWORKS, Hatch, and FIRST Canada, the build season was an immense success. They are proud to present their robot this season: Lightning Queen.
At competition, HNMCS Robotics stood tall during the qualification matches against 28 other robots. Throughout the challenging matches, the robot remained consistent as it successfully completed the autonomous period, scored cubes, and engaged with the charge station every match. The consistency, strength, and stability of the robot was recognized by the highest ranked team, MakeShift Robotics FRC4039 from St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario, and the third-highest ranked team, Simbotics FRC 1114 from Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catherine’s, Ontario. Together, the trio formed a powerful alliance, leveraging their unique strengths and working in seamless coordination to outmaneuver and outscore their opponents, ultimately defeating all seven opposing alliances in a thrilling display of innovation and teamwork. HNMCS Robotics’ driver, operator, technician and human players fiercely competed against opponent alliances. Additionally, their robot played a key role in the matches as it successfully defended against opponent robots and engaged the charge station every playoff match. In the finals, HNMCS Robotics brought pride to our school as winners of the competition.
HNMCS Robotics has been breaking down boundaries for girls in STEM. Their theme for this season is Connect, Create, Change. These three C’s embody their mission to create and inspire positive change in their communities. HNMCS Robotics’ impact runs year-long. Their annual events, including Engineering Career Night, Business Brunch, STEM Day, Alumnae Chats, and DropIN Coding, provide valuable learning experiences for youth across the province. Last summer, the team expanded their outreach globally by running coding workshops for all-girls schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Last December, the team hosted and ran the Mississauga FLL Qualifying Tournament, involving 300 attendees. HNMCS Robotics continues to connect with communities, create opportunities, and change perspectives on STEM.
The leads of HNMCS Robotics had been tirelessly meeting in and outside of school to perfect their essay and presentation for the competition. They spent countless hours writing and editing their essay, carefully crafting each sentence to convey the team’s theme and message clearly and effectively. They also spent many hours scripting and rehearsing their presentation, making sure that they were able to deliver their ideas with clarity and confidence. Their tireless effort and dedication paid off in the end, as they delivered a stunning essay and presentation that captivated the judges and earned their team the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award. This award recognizes the team’s initiatives and efforts to respect, appreciate, and promote engineering and technology within and outside their community. Their hard work and determination were a shining example of the power of perseverance and the rewards of unwavering commitment to excellence.
New but deeply-rooted; unconventional but innovative—HNMCS Robotics makes the most of every opportunity to amplify their impact and strength. This is only the beginning for 7659. The three C’s—Connect, Create, Change—will continue to shape their positive impact on HNMCS, the local community, and the world. We cannot wait to see their performance at the McMaster District Event on March 31-April 2, 2023 and the Provincial Championships on April 5-8, 2023!
HNMCS Robotics is ready for the ONT District Georgian Event! The team put the finishing touches on the competition robot: making bumpers, autonomous programming, drive practice, and tweaking the position control on the arm using PID and the Falcon500 motor. FRC7659 is excited to present for the FIRST Impact Award as we continue to connect with communities, create opportunities, and change perspectives in STEM.
HNMCS Robotics had a busy couple of weeks. Prototyping of the pneumatic intake arm was completed and the team started to build the competition drive train. Electrical and pneumatic components were laid out on the belly pan and the build of the intake arm was started. Team 7659 is looking forward to the first competition in March at the ONT District Georgian Event!
For build weeks 2 and 3, our team members worked on building the field elements. They took time to measure the wood and used power tools including drills and an electric saw to build the charging station. The members also successfully created the key element of the robot.
For build week 4, we started drive practice. The students had so much fun practicing balancing the robot on the ramp which is starting to get more successful. We are working our way toward the FRC tournament!
After the virtual Kickoff on January 7 of the new year, our full team watched the game videos, read the manual, discussed game strategies, and started to work on design concepts. The team worked together and built field elements through after-school team meetings. The students were able to learn more about STEM, learn how to use power tools for the first time, and grow their creativity. It was great to be back in person and have after-school meetings, growing the bond in the team!
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Challenge is the oldest of three divisions of FIRST LEGO League, and the stepping stone from middle school through FIRST Tech Challenge to the highest level of robotics competition, FIRST Robotics Competition Teams such as HNMCS Senior School Robotics team, FRC Team 7659. The robotics programs of FIRST are designed to inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM research, mechanical design and robotics.
On Saturday 17 December 2022, 24 teams from as far as Niagara Falls converged at HNMCS to compete with the best of the best. Teams spent the day competing in this year’s SuperPowered challenge. They presented their Innovation Projects where they designed and created a unique solution to a specific problem with energy. Teams designed and created a robot that competed in Robot Game missions through innovation in Robot Design, clear mission strategy and functional coding.
HNMCS Senior School Robotics hosted one of the largest in Toronto, and advanced some of the highest-scoring teams to the Ontario Provincials. HNMCS Robotics delivered a flawless program for over 250 guests through the diligent work of the lead students. Sabrina, the Production Manager and team captain, worked closely with the Tournament Director, Dr. Kozma, and was the point-of-contact for all leads and judges. She was involved with all aspects of the competition, coordinated communications with teams and volunteers, oversaw check-in and produced event materials such as volunteer information packets. Sally, the Field Manager and team Business Lead, oversaw all tournament referees with a comprehensive knowledge of the season field setup, mission rules and challenge updates. Brigitte, the Pit Manager and team Technical Lead, organized the home base for teams during the event, scheduling teams for practice rounds, queuing teams for judging sessions and robot rounds and operating the concessions. Veronica, the Technical Advisor, kept technical systems functioning such as DJ, audio, PA announcements and computer needs so that the schedule was maintained throughout the day. Ainsley, lead Master of Ceremonies and team Communication Lead, brought the energy up in the robot field and created and sustained an exciting, fun atmosphere throughout the event. Together with Qi, a high school student from a neighbouring school, Veronica and Ainsley maintained the pace of the event and were consummate FIRST ambassadors.
With the success of our inaugural event, HNMCS Robotics is looking to continue its tradition of promoting STEM with underrepresented youth by launching an all-girls off-season FLL Challenge Event.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to you and all of the volunteers for the time and effort that you invested, both leading up to and during Saturday’s event, to help make the FIRST LEGO League Challenge Qualifying Tournament at Holy Name of Mary College School such an enjoyable experience for participating teams. I will never forget this exemplary inaugural event!”
Annika Pint, Program Manager, FIRST Lego League Challenge.
Team 7659 is ready and excited for Ruckus 2022 we have from October 21st to 22nd in Rochester, NY! We are building team spirit with our new members; one of the initiatives we’ve been working on is making matching team bracelets for the upcoming competition.
In other exciting news, our team has also started after school build sessions again! Every Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM, we have been working hard to get our robot ready! We are also having drive practices with our drivers every Monday and Thursday.
HNMCS Robotics Team 7659 