Students from across the province gathered in Waterloo Ontario this week to promote, practice, and celebrate the technological trades available for students in today’s industries.  This competition began Monday morning with the Elementary Skills competition and culminated in the Secondary and Post-Secondary Skills Competition on Tuesday.

Students from schools that we have visited before were competing at this level.  From Henry Street High School the competitors made a strong showing in Mechanical CAD using Autodesk Inventor as well as Automotive Technology and Small Engine Tech.  Student’s of Andy Persad also competed and represented their mentor well.

Other featured events were Electronics, CAM, and Architectural CAD.  Many students chose to use Autodesk software for their designs, with AutoCAD and Revit Architecture being very prominent.

Virtual Robotics was a very busy event with eight teams competing to program, build, and control a Fischertechnik Robot in the given time.  Programming was completed using Microsoft Visual Studio and RoboPro software.  The Fischertechnik Robo TX Training Lab was the platform for the students design.  The students Autonomous Real Robot had to demonstrate basic assembly principles such as wiring, mechanics, and sensor calibration.  Each robot had to demonstrate a Core Functionality including demonstrating the viability of each individual components performance as well as the performance of the robot as an autonomous whole.

The virtual portion of this contest offered quite a contrast to the practical portion.  Students were able to develop designs and solve design flaws in a prototyping stage.  This gave students the ability to connect the actual movement of the robot with the program to run it autonomously.  The “see and fix” step was very valuable to student’s success.

2D and 3D Character Animation were also contents.  Featured platforms included Autodesk 3D Studio Max and Maya.  Preparing for a career in the animation field, these students displayed their abilities to utilize functions across platforms.  Multi platform Suites such as the Autodesk Animation Academy were featured to complete the animation process.

The robotics competition was a very popular contest with many competitors and quite a few spectators.  Students from Ecole Secondaire de Hearst had a very strong team in this competition with the prospects of a sure victory.  Many students and teachers stopped by to view the event as it unfolded, with the competition gradually winding its way to one victorious team.

Results for the Ontario Technological Skills Competition will be released later this week.  For an update on Skills Canada or information on how your school can participate please visit the website.

Studica is a proud part of Skills Canada, providing the professional solutions to teacher’s needs and the technology to prepare students for their future.  If you would like more information on the successes of these schools at Skills please contact Studica and we will help show you that all students can reach goals just like the students demonstrating their skills at OTSC.

Author: Matthew Colbeck