Alpha Dogs dominate in new season of FIRST Robotics

By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Alpha Dogs FIRST Robotics team is leading the pack this season after winning numerous back-to-back qualification events, awards and ranking in the top 10 worldwide.

The season officially began back in January, but the team had been planning even before that, learning new skills and refining old ones to prepare for the upcoming season.

Since then, they've won their qualification events at the University of Waterloo and Durham College.

After being undefeated in qualifications, the team moved on to eliminations and, at the Durham event, received the “Excellence in Engineering” award.

At the Waterloo event, the team received the “Engineering Inspiration” award, recognizing its ability to inspire the community and bring engineering and STEM education to those around them.

Coach Cole Cyr attributes the team's success so far to the team's dedication.

Cyr is a former Humberview student who helped found the Alpha Dogs back in 2013. He now volunteers to coach the team.

Fifty-three students are on the team this year, led by four teacher mentors, two community mentors, and six alumni mentors.

He says that the team strives for perfection, which is exemplified in the number of hours they put in, even working straight through Easter weekend.

Cyr says he couldn't even guess the thousands of hours of work that go into each season.

Once the building season starts, the Alpha Dogs meet during their lunch, after school, and on weekends.

“We definitely spend a lot more time than probably we need to,” says, jokingly. “It's a combination of the experience that we've had going through the years, and then just knowing where to put that time and how much time is needed for each part.”

Looking at their success this season, he says a large difference their team makes compared to others is building their robot as soon as possible, no matter how rough a draft, giving them time to refine and make it just right.

As of now, their team is in the top ten worldwide, second in Canada, and second in Ontario, coming a long way from when Cyr and his friends first formed the team.

“In the early days we were fighting for every single match, fighting just to have the robot work and then show up and be there, and going from that to fighting for championships and then having an actual shot at it, it's such an amazing difference,” says Cyr.

“For me starting it, it's overwhelming to me how good it is. I still see the team as what it was when it started where it's just…a group of my friends building a robot, so to be here instead of just a bunch of people doing it, instead actually fighting for championships it's crazy,” he says.

The team is now preparing for the upcoming FIRST Ontario Provincial Championship from April 16 to 19.

Cyr says the team is busy fine-tuning every piece.

“We're in the part of the season right now where we're not going to be able to get much better; we're trying to squeeze out that one percent really from 98 to 99. It's really hard to do because it's the tiniest of the tiniest of improvements but that's the difference between being eighth and being sixth.”

For Cyr, he says it's the extra element of the team coming out of Bolton.

“It's cool to have that coming from such a small town and we're eighth in the world right now, on the world stage.”