In their first year competing as a team, 7K Robotics has made their mark on the international stage.
The team, made up of Gauthier Appaix, Eony Kim and Taylor LaFleur recently returned from the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky where they once again performed well.
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The team was one of six out of the 579 teams to win all 11 qualification matches, shooting them up into the top one per cent in the competition.
They then went on to win bronze in the skills challenge but were ousted in the semifinal round. Appaix says the team was were proud of how far they made it, and the defeat didn’t feel so bad because that team ended up winning the competition.
“All the teams we got to meet were great and the experience was insane,” said Appaix. “It was really really fun.”
A second team from the Comox Valley also competed in the international competition, NIDES 7842F.
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The two teams had practiced a lot together leading up to the competition but were forced to face off against each other in the playoffs.
“It was a really good match,” said Appaix. “We just pulled through two points ahead of them.”
At the end of the tournament, the new challenge for the VEX Robotics 2019-20 season was revealed, titled Tower Takeover.
The three members of 7K Robotics, who are each currently in grade 11, plan to continue competing next year.
“We’ve learned a lot robotics-wise and this competition we learned a lot strategy-wise,” said Appaix. “We’ll be competing next year, but that’ll be our last year.”
