Humberview’s robotics team goes undefeated at first tournament of the year

March 13, 2025 · 0 Comments

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Caledon is home to the country’s best high school robotics team.

After a commanding 17-0 performance at a recent robotics tournament in Newmarket, Humberview Secondary School’s Alpha Dogs robotics team is ranked first in Canada and fifth worldwide.

The undefeated record was good for the tournament win and the tournament’s quality award for best robot build.

For those who aren’t aware of the Alpha Dogs and the tournaments they compete in, here’s a quick summary:

The Alpha Dogs are a FIRST robotics team — FIRST is a global non-profit dedicated to inspiring students to pursue careers in STEM. On the first Saturday of every January, FIRST robotics teams around the world are given a challenge. They then have eight weeks to design and build a robot that will be able to meet this challenge and be better and faster at it than other robots in competition.

Students are responsible for all aspects of the robot, from designing it to machining parts to programming it for operation.

Becky Krauter, a teacher at Humberview, and one of the Alpha Dogs’ coaches, explained this year’s Alpha Dogs team is made up of 50 students, 22 per cent of whom are female.

There are a number of different sub-teams within the team: the design, programming, build, and business and media teams.

The team practices seven days a week, running its robot in the President’s Building at the Bolton Fairgrounds thanks to a partnership with the Albion Bolton Agricultural Society. The team has many partnerships in the community, such as with the Bolton and Palgrave Rotary clubs and many local businesses.

“We have lots of great sponsors; we’re sitting at about 35 sponsors right now… not only do we have new ones coming in every year, we have sponsors that have been with us for many, many years,” said Krauter.

Being a part of the Alpha Dogs makes a big impact on students. Krauter said around 90 per cent of graduates who participate in the Alpha Dogs go on to STEM-based post-secondary education.

The Alpha Dogs must play in one more qualifying tournament to make it to the provincial championships, where they then hope to qualify for the FIRST Robotics world championships which will be held in Houston in April.