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The 2019 Burnett robotics team works on their robot.

Photo courtesy Jimyung Woo

Burnett students participating in robotics competition

By Matthew Cheung

Published 12:53 PST, Fri December 9, 2022

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Students from Burnett secondary are competing in the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition, with help from Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) Wilson School of Design and Physics for Modern Technology department.

The Burnett team won the 2019 Canadian Pacific Regional competition in Victoria and represented Canada at the FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston, Texas.

The 2023 Canadian Pacific Regional competition will again be held at the Save-On Foods Centre in Victoria next March. About 40 teams are expected to be in attendance.

Dr. Victor Martinez and Dr. Flavio Ruiz Oliveras from KPU are mentoring the Burnett team by volunteering their time and expertise in final product design and engineering physics. Samudra Dissanayake, a former senior advisor of research and innovation at KPU, also volunteers as a mentor to facilitate the connection between the university and Burnett secondary.

“We learned about the FIRST Robotics Program in 2019, when the Wilson School of Design hosted one of their local competitions in our venue. We were excited to hear that the Richmond Burnett team won the FIRST Canadian Pacific Regional Championships and represented Canada at the world competition that very same year,” says Dissanayake. “One of the most important reasons to be a teacher is to help bring up the next generation of creative professionals the world needs. It is a privilege to be able to help shape their skills (and) character and motivate them to reach their full potential. It is humbling to see their talent and how they grow and improve.”

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit organization. Its goal is to inspire members of the next generation to reach their full potential in a world of accelerating change.

Over a million people have participated in the organization’s events as students, volunteers, mentors, judges, and coaches. The organization has hosted 3,700 events and given out over 3,000 scholarship opportunities totalling about $80 million. About 83 per cent of alumni who participated in a FIRST event have taken on leadership roles at their schools. Eighty-one percent of alumni declared majors in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The FIRST Robotics Competition tasks teams with building and programming industrial-sized robots to participate in an action-packed alliance-based game. Teams will create their identities, raise funds to meet their goals, and work to promote STEM in their communities.

“The current team members have a varied skill set complementing one another, with the more senior students helping junior members get up to speed. Some senior students participated in the 2022 FIRST Robotics Competition. This was with a wooden robot. If they could raise the necessary funding to build a more sophisticated robot, the possibilities for the team would be endless,” says Dissanayake.

For Burnett technology education teacher Wesley Bevan, the opportunity to coach the upcoming generation is exciting, particularly given the return to full in-person competition at a level not seen since 2019.

“Coaching and mentoring the robotics club came with the job, but it’s turned into my favourite part,” says Bevan. “With the tremendous support we are getting from KPU faculty (members) who have industry experience in engineering design and engineering physics, as well as parent mentors who have been previously mentoring the team, we are more than confident that we will have a very good understanding in the upcoming competition.”

Burnett Grade 12 student Jimyung Woo, a member of the robotics team, says it’s fun to compete against students from other schools as well as getting to know and working together with others.

“Balancing robotics and school isn’t an easy thing. What I have been always doing is planning out what needs to be done in terms of robotics and schoolwork. Robotics would be the first priority in order to finish our robot on time for the competition, and then (I) plan out the amount of time needed for homework based on the urgency of each school class,” says Woo.

Grade 8 students Alex Lu Dubuc and Jeffrey Yang are also members of the Burnett robotics team.

“I feel like we are able to represent our school and fight for a common goal,” says Dubuc.

Yang adds: “It’s very interesting, I’m excited (about) exploring and developing my skills in robotics and working with the robotics team.”

Burnett students are aiming to raise $25,000 through sponsorship (cash or in-kind) and donations to support the building of a robot that can compete on a world stage. Those interested in donating can contact Bevan at wbevan@sd38.ca

For more information, about the FIRST Robotics Competition, visit firstroboticscanada.org