Twenty winners from Coaticook, Sherbooke, Rimouski, Terrebonne and Montreal - Congratulations to all who participated in the 2nd annual Robotics Festival, the Quebec engineers of tomorrow!

MONTREAL, March 18, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - The ceremony that officially closed the second annual Robotics Festival, wherein some 20 prizes were awarded, was held this past Saturday, with Marie Malavoy, Quebec Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, in attendance. Presented by Bombardier and the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, in association with BMO Financial Group, Saputo and Montreal Hooked on School, and the brainchild of Youth Fusion and FIRST Robotics Quebec, the Robotics Festival aims to encourage kids to stay and succeed in school.

Widely regarded as the "Stanley Cup of Robot Competitions," this international event attracted over 2,000 young minds from 76 elementary and high schools — mostly from disadvantaged areas in Quebec — some travelling from as far as Ontario, the U.S. and Mexico.

The 2013 edition of the Festival featured two international competitions designed to deliver a stimulating experience to young students, i.e. the challenge for 14-18 year-olds, dubbed "Ultimate Ascent" this year (building a functioning robot capable of throwing frisbees while scaling a pyramid-shaped steel structure), and the LEGO^® challenge for 9-13 year-olds (designing a robot able to carry out missions and presenting innovative ideas on the subject of "Senior Solutions").

Winners of the challenge for 14-18 year-olds
Of the 40 teams competing in Montreal, five qualified for the international championship slated for late April in Saint-Louis, Missouri, i.e. the top three teams, École Honoré-Mercier (Montreal), Collège Regina Assumpta (Montreal) and Sinclair Secondary School (Whitby, Ontario), and the teams from École secondaire La Frontalière (Coaticook) and Loyola College (Montreal). The following three schools from Montreal also put in outstanding performances in the finals: Saint-Henri, Louis-Joseph-Papineau and LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School.

Below is a selective list of the winners of the Montreal competition:

• The Team Spirit Award: École Marguerite de Lajemmerais (Montreal)
• The Imagery Award: École George-Vanier (Montreal)
• The Creativity Award: École La Montée (Sherbrooke)
• The Engineering Excellence Award: École Saint-Henri (Montreal)
• The Rookie Inspiration Award: École Léopold-Gravel (Terrebonne)
• The Quality Award: École du Triolet (Sherbrooke)
• The Gracious Professionalism™ Award: École Paul-Hubert (Rimouski)
• The Industrial Design Award: Séminaire de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke)
• The Judges' Award: École Lucien-Pagé (Montreal)
• The Industrial Safety Award: École Honoré-Mercier
• The Rookie All Star Award: École La Frontalière (Coaticook)
• Engineering Inspiration Award: Collège Régina Assumpta
• The Dean's List Finalists: Piero Barrette of École Paul-Hubert (Rimouski) and Yazid Djenadi of École Jeanne-Mance (Montreal). These two young students will also be representing Quebec in Saint-Louis.
• The Chairman's Award: Loyola College

Winners of the challenge for 9-13 year-olds
As for the LEGO^® challenges, the following Montreal schools finished at the top as a result of their hi-tech performance: Ste-Maria-Goretti (CSPI), Jacques-Bizard (CSMB), Victor Rousselot (CSDM), St-Gérard (CSDM) and Joseph-Henrico (CSMB).

About FIRST and the organizers
Competitions organized by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) are designed to offer young students a tangible and stimulating experience. FIRST was started in 1989 in Manchester, New Hampshire, by Dean Kamen, the humanist inventor who created the Segway, to lend a spark to students' career choices by showing them that engineers and researchers can lead interesting and rewarding lives. FIRST Robotics Canada was born in 2001, where four Montreal public schools were able to compete for the first time in 2010 thanks to Youth Fusion. FIRST Robotics Quebec was established that same year. Youth Fusion and FIRST Robotics Quebec joined forces in 2012 to organize the first-ever Robotics Festival in Quebec.

Above and beyond the spectacular entertainment value it provides, the Robotics Festival is first and foremost where young and emerging science and technology enthusiasts from Quebec can acquire hands-on experience and find the motivation to stay in school and strive for academic success.

Website: www.festivalderobotique.ca

SOURCE: Festival de robotique 2013

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