Contributed photos
Humberview Secondary School’s Robotics team, the Alpha Dogs, recently represented their school and Caledon on the world stage at the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston, Texas.
The Alpha Dogs travelled to Houston for the April 19th to 22nd event after an impressive second place finish at the Ontario championships.
At the Worlds the Alpha Dogs were competing against 640 teams from around the world which were split into 8 divisions in the massive George R. Brown Convention Centre.
The team had enjoyed an amazing season. They had a very solid qualification record of seven wins and three losses. This was sufficient to allow them to join the number one alliance in their division. The alliance was also composed of two teams from the United States and one team from Australia. This alliance, with the Alpha Dogs, went undefeated in playoffs right to the finals of their division. Unfortunately one of the alliance robots was damaged. Communication issues resulted that ended the tournament hopes for the Alpha Dogs as finalists in their division.
The team that eliminated the Alpha Dogs went on to become the finalists for the entire tournament and then were narrowly defeated by the World Champions. The team that finished second in the world had been defeated by the Alpha Dogs team less than two hours earlier! This clearly demonstrates how difficult winning at the World championships is.
“There are a million things that can go wrong with the three robots on your team. And only one way for everything to go right” said the team in an announcement that read at their school upon their return.
The Alpha Dogs had their best season ever and they were able to clearly show everyone at the World Championships that they are able to compete with the best teams in the world.
