Icebreakers take first place at reginal robotics competition

Team 890 creatively demonstrated their technical knowledge to a panel of judges by playing their own version of Jeopardy. From left to right: William Fraser, Marshall Point, Sean Cazabon, Allie Hamilton, Dalton Houlder, Thomas Hamilton. Photo provided.

Team 890 The Icebreakers
News Release

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A team of six kids aged 9-13, and their coaches, were in Sudbury this past Saturday, aiming to get through a whirlwind day of competing in the Northeastern Ontario First Lego League Robotics Competition. They exceeded their expectations by returning to North Bay with a first place finish amid a tight field of 9 teams from all across the region.

Team 890, also known as the Icebreakers, will now head to the provincial robotics competition this January in Oshawa (for the second year in a row).

William Fraser (11), Dalton Houlder (11), Marshall Point (11), Sean Cazabon (11), Allie Hamilton (11), and Thomas Hamilton (13) have been meeting three to five times a week since the first week of September. Their coaches Brenda Wiltshire, Colleen Point, Melody Cazabon and John Fraser, along with mentors Carter Phillips and Taylor Atwood, have spent 6-12 hours each week to guide and help the aspiring engineers meet their goals.

First Lego League is a robotics program designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills. In the program’s pilot year (1998), 210 kids participated. This year, it is estimated that over 200,000 kids from more than 55 countries will participate. In Northeastern Ontario, the yearly competition continues to attract more and more teams every year.

Each September, the League sends out the upcoming year’s challenge. This year’s challenge was “food factor” and the kids were asked to look at possible points of contamination that food encounters – from exposure to insects and creatures, to unsterile processing and transportation, to unsanitary preparation and storage. The kids were then challenged to find ways to prevent or combat these contaminates.

Team 890 decided to do their research on improving cooler safety. They researched and developed a “cooler” cooler that included a solar blanket cover, an internal thermometer that could be read remotely while the cooler was still closed, and special racks to keep the food separated.

As part of their overall evaluation, Team 890 also designed a Lego robot to perform a variety of “missions” related to food safety, each worth a set of points. They competed with the robot a total of four times in front of cheering crowds. In addition, they had to do a presentation on the technical aspects of the robot including programming and the accessories the team designed. Another part of the competition included their views on the League’s core values which include such themes as “gracious professionalism and coopertition.” The third part of their evaluation was demonstrating their knowledge of food safety principals, which they did through a unique version of the game Jeopardy – in front of a panel of judges.

The kids of Team 890 competed with grace and overcame several challenges throughout the day, one of which was re-constructing a main part of their robot’s platform, which they forgot in North Bay.

Two other teams from North Bay also competed and made their home-town proud by winning awards. The Iceolaters won an award for team spirit and the Icestatics won an award for their project presentation. All the North Bay “ICE” teams are sponsored by FIRST Team 1305 and mentored as well.

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