​Kinetic Knights win Sustainability Award at FIRST Ontario Championships

The Kinetic Knights Robotics Team of Kincardine (FRC Team 781) won the Sustainability Award for the Science Division, at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Ontario “Crescendo” Championships, held April 4-6 at the International Centre in Mississauga.

This award celebrates and recognizes a team that has developed a sustainable program in order to define, manage, and achieve the team’s ongoing objectives.

Team 781 travelled to Mississauga, Wednesday night, April 3, and set up the pit area, preparing the robot for the tough competition ahead.

Over the next two days, the Kinetic Knights competed in 12 separate qualification matches, putting their robot to the test with different teammates and opponents on the field each game. All the while, team members were gathering information on other teams' robots and answering the questions of volunteer judges, evaluating the team's robot design, team sustainability and community impact.

At the end of the qualifying matches, Team 781 placed 27th out of 50 teams in the Science Division, with five wins and seven losses.

The team was selected by Alliance 8 and joined Team 9262, the Humberside Huskies of Toronto, and Team 8884, the Knight Owls, also of Toronto, for the elimination rounds.

Alliance 8 fought hard in the playoffs, but lost its first match against the top alliance, moving to the consolation rounds, where it defeated Alliance 5, by a score of 108-92, but lost against Alliance 3, by a score of 75-119, ending its run for the championship.



The Kinetic Knights' robot competes in the elimination rounds at the FIRST Ontario Championships, April 6; videos by David Dadson

The Kinetic Knights thank their Alliance 8 teammates for a good run, as well as all the generous sponsors of Team 781, including Bruce Power, Enbridge, the Kincardine Legion, NPX, McKechnie Pharmacy, the Power Workers’ Union, and many others.

A special thanks to all the team’s mentors and supporters who have helped Team 781 throughout this season.

While the competition season has ended, the Kinetic Knights will be out and about in the community throughout the next four months, conducting outreach events, including robot demonstrations, fund-raisers and more.

Team members will be at the Home and Garden Expo, April 27, at the Davidson Centre, where they will be doing a robot demonstration at 10:30 a.m. They will be tree-planting with the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network, May 4; and doing more robot demonstrations at Cruise Nights in downtown Kincardine throughout the summer. Look for them in their bright green Kinetic Knights T-shirts!

Team 781 is also holding a Bottle Drive, May 24-25, at the build space on Lambton Street in Kincardine.



Team 781's robot competes in a qualifying match at the FIRST Ontario Championships, April 5