‘It’s pretty awesome’: Korah robotics team is number one in the world

‘Wired Weirdos’ is the humorous name of one of Korah Collegiate’s VEX robotics teams, but there’s nothing weird about the team’s accomplishments.

They were sitting at number one in the world as of Wednesday in the VEX V5 Override, a VEX Robotics World Championships competition for high school students.

The virtually-held competition, which began in September and continues to the spring, includes more than 180 teams from around the globe.

Wired Weirdos, with its robot known as Hookshot, has edged out teams from the U.S. and China in the top five spots, completing robotic tasks within set time limits.

“Right now we’re in the lead and significantly in the lead. It’s pretty awesome,” said Amanda Farrell, Korah’s robotics coach and computer science teacher.

Another Korah robotics team, known as Double Double, currently sits at second place in Canada and 14th in the world.

“Wired Weirdos will physically go to the VEX Robotics World Championships in Las Vegas in April by winning the top 10 spot at the provincials in Markham in February. That’s very likely at this point,” Farrell said.

The team includes Cyan Rasheed, Pranshu Trivedi and Jimit Patel, who are in Grade 11, and Grade 12 student Alex Townsend.

“I come from a very techy family. Robotics was definitely a big option for me coming into Korah. As we go on through the years, we definitely want the program here to grow and make the Korah teams as big as those from the GTA and the States. That’s our goal,” Rasheed said.

While there are robotics competitions for elementary school students, Trivedi said he hadn’t been involved robotics prior to starting high school.

“I got hooked on it in Grade 9 and now I don’t think I’m ever going to stop doing robotics,” he said.

Patel was introduced to robotics by his older brother.

“I started doing robotics for my team in Grade 9. It’s a lot of fun and I’ve made friends through it along the way,” he said.

“The game we’re playing for the World Championships is about stacking cups on pins. What our robot does is try to go as high up as possible and stack as many cups as it can,” Rasheed said.

The team members said the World Championships have been their most challenging competition to date.

“As a builder and lead programmer, I would say it is a bit harder for me,” Rasheed said.

“It’s a stacking game, so there are some more complicated mechatronics that come with the lifting mechanisms to pick up objects.”

“As the coder that writes the software that moves the robot, it’s been difficult as I need to have a lot more different functions in the code and keep track of a lot more things, but it’s been fun across the board,” Trivedi said.

“As the driver, I would say this competition is a little harder because this needs more skill and precision. I have to navigate through tall pins and not crash into them,” Patel said.

He added that being the robot’s driver is the most enjoyable job on the team.

The team’s success didn’t come as a surprise to its members.

“I have high expectations for my team, but it’s also an amazing feeling to compete with other higher level teams. I’m proud of the team. Robotics really shows teamwork and that’s what robotics is as a whole,” Rasheed said.

“I spent a solid 50 hours constantly debugging, testing, optimizing this code over and over. So, to finally hit that number one spot feels so surreal and unbelievable,” Trivedi said.

Now that the Korah team has reached number one, Trivedi said the group is aware that competing teams will be striving to take their top spot.

“I will keep on top of things and constantly push the bar even higher,” Trivedi said.

“It feels wonderful. We’re a small northern team but we have managed to get to number one while GTA teams are still behind,” Patel said.

Robotics coach Farrell isn’t surprised at the team’s success either.

“These guys, since day one and Grade 9, have progressively improved and pushed themselves and they’re where they’re at today because of the hard work they’ve put in.”

“They’re here in Grade 11 and can you even imagine what’s going to happen next year? It’s definitely achievable for them to make it to the worlds in Las Vegas,” Farrell said.

As far as long-term career goals are concerned, Rasheed said he sees robotics in his future, Trivedi wants to go into the aerospace industry and Patel has his sights set on medicine.

Rasheed and Trivedi said they are open to making the Sault their permanent home or a regular vacation spot after university, while Patel shared that he has his heart set on putting down roots here.

“I would love to come back and work at Sault Area Hospital and help this community. It’s great here. It’s been loving to me and shown a lot of respect,” Patel said.

Patel said he’s interested in becoming an optometrist or cardiologist.

Robotics coach Farrell said the team is a source of inspiration for herself, Korah Collegiate and the community as a whole.

“I knew from day one there was something special there.”

“They speak to each other with respect, give each other feedback, they learn from one another because they all have skills. I really respect the dynamic ethic that they have and their work ethic,” Farrell said.

“They’re here every day. I have to kick them out at the end of the day, otherwise we’d all be living here and doing robotics,” Farrell said with a laugh.

Robotics equipment and travelling to tournaments isn’t cheap, and while the Algoma District School Board provides some funding to Korah’s robotics program, Farrell said the high school would be grateful for any support from sponsors.

Farrell said that individuals, businesses or organizations interested in becoming sponsors may contact her via email.