Microsoft has generously offered grants for teams across Canada in 2017. During the months of January, February, and March, we’re highlighting Microsoft-sponsored teams!

We talked to Team 5630 and asked them a few questions about the robotics season so far.

FIRST Robotics Canada: How do you feel about the 2017 game?

Team 5630: The 2017 game looks promising. On the first day of our build, our team lade incredible progress towards the overall design of the robot and we discovered that our challenge will most likely be the fire-rate of our ball shooter. Otherwise, the students are incredibly excited regarding our design for the rope climber, gear-delivery mechanism, and our ball-storage system.

FIRST: What about the game are you most excited for?

5630: We are most excited for the ball-shooting portion of the game. We think that we have a unique design idea of making 2-3 shooters instead of just one. This would allow us to decrease the rate at which the balls are entering the shooter, without decreasing our rate-of-fire.

FIRST: What makes your team unique?

5630: Our team is unique because of our diversity. Out of all the Calgary teams, our team is the most diverse in terms of schools. This gives us perspective. Everyone has different opinions and different experiences that brings a unique standard to the team. We can run through ideas, talk about them, and eventually we will arrive at the best possible design or strategy by the end.

FIRST: What events are your team attending this year?

5630: We will be attending the Idaho Regional. Then we head back to Calgary to compete in the Western Canada Regional. Hopefully we will be attending World Championships in Houston, Texas. After that, the team is hoping to attend the China Robotics Challenge. If we attend, we would run workshops to teach Chinese students robotics and end off the trip with a replica robotics competition.

FIRST: How has the Microsoft grant helped your team so far?

5630: The Microsoft grant is the only thing that is letting our team attend the Idaho Regional. The fees for competitions are incredibly high and this grant is allowing us to broaden our opportunities. Moreover, the leftover money is allowing us to buy extremely crucial parts to build our robot. These parts would not be obtainable without a suitable sponsor to provide funds for them. Ultimately, without the Microsoft grant, our team would be severely limited in our opportunity to succeed. These students deserve the chance to learn, work, and build something amazing, and Microsoft is giving us this opportunity.

Thanks, Team 5630! We wish you the best of luck this season. And thank you, Microsoft, for supporting FIRST Robotics Canada teams.