Morris Robotics competes against the best at world championships
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When Morris School teacher J.P. Jamieson brought his love of robots to the school in 2023 he had no idea that in that short period of time he would see the school’s robotics team scale to the heights it has. The Morris Robotics Team just returned from Dallas, Texas, where they came in 71 out of 83 teams in the math division against some of the top teams from around the world at the VEX World Championships where they had a 3-7 record.
“I feel really good about (being at the worlds), I think the rest of my team (feels the same), as well. It was stressful thinking about how many teams were going to be there and thinking about what could go wrong, but we got through it. We did quite well,” said Kayden Grattan, main driver of the robot. “I think we were all happy to be there. It was a great learning experience. We got to meet a lot of new people, make new friends.”
The team ranked 221 out of 820 high school teams at the tournament. The team had their best scores of the season in the skills competition for both driver and autonomous and credit the new hardware they were able to purchase last month.
Grattan attributes the success of the team to “a lot of hard work, preparation, and great team members.”
The robotics team at Morris School was only formed in 2024 where they competed in SUMO-style robotics, where the robots scoop and push their competitors out of a ring in order to get points and win a match. In 2024, the team received on loan larger, more complex VEX robots from the Manitoba Association of Educational Technology Leaders (MAETL).
MAETL has a STEM lending library to encourage science, technology, engineering, and math and they lend out different equipment to schools across the province to achieve this. MAETL donated two $1,600 robots and a 12-foot x 12-foot ring for the students to build and practice with in preparation for international competition. Grattan said the robot played a critical role in the team doing as well as they did.
The VEX robots have to accomplish multiple tasks during competition, such as picking up rings and placing them on a stake, climbing a four-foot high ladder, and pushing their opponents. Each task has a set of points and the team with the most number of points wins the tournament.
“The main strategy there was to be able to talk to our partners that were going to be on our side and find out what they do best and then we combine that with what we do best. And then we’re able to make a strategy, execute the strategy, and then win if everything goes to plan,” said Grattan.
The team hopes to return to the ring again in the new school year with an eye on competing again at the worlds.
For now, the students are in the design process for a new robot as they have to return the MAETL robots and ring. The team has collected enough money to build new robots in preparation for this year’s tournaments. Grattan said the team is lucky to have strong support from their sponsors and the community.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a pretty good robot in the next tournament,” he said.
“If you have the chance to join a robotics team I think it’s worth it and you should take that opportunity,” said Grattan. “Because it’s a great experience. You get to meet a lot of great people and you get to learn a lot of new things as well.”