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SWAT 771 at Worlds

5/6/2016

Our FIRST Robotics team SWAT 771 has enjoyed a successful season! Read a note from Lead Robotics mentor, SMLS teacher Mrs. Sarah Sils, on their experience at the World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri...

"We survived the long bus drive to St. Louis and set up our pit at Champs. We are very thankful for our sponsors so we display them proudly on our banner, shirts, and robot. The robot passed inspection quickly and SWAT took the field confidently. These are the best robots in the world and we held our heads high as we won 5 - lost 5 in the qualifying matches. This was a strong finish for us, which met our goal of improving with the robot each year.

A number of judges showed an interest in the team. The girls represented themselves well and we did our best job ever in speaking to the technical judges. We did not win an award, but remember, only two Canadian teams ever have won an awards at Champs in the 25 year history. One of them was us last year!!!

FedEx took a great interest in the team and SWAT won a phantom drone "just for being us." We are hopeful that this may lead to a sponsorship next year. The team was also sought out by the founder of FIRST, Dean Kamen, as well as by the Brigidier General of the US Military.

We were proud to have most team members attend at least one conference during the event, and many of the team members came back brimming with new knowledge and ideas for improvements. We also took most girls to the Innovation Faire, which is a trade show of tech companies. Very interesting things on the horizon. My group was particularly interested in the biotech gadgets on display. There are cool advances being made with tiny robots in the medical field.

All in all, it was a great team-bonding event with much knowledge gained and friends made. We came back energized to make next year even better."

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