About Us
About Us
We are the robotics team from North Toronto Collegiate Institute, a high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Our team participates annually at VEX Robotics Competitions across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
The robotics team is an extracurricular club that is made up of over 30 enthusiastic students who have a passion for technology and engineering. Our goal is to make robotics a welcoming team of all ages and experiences who want to grow their knowledge in STEM and a place for them to put their interests into something tangible. Over the years, our team has won multiple awards, including Tournament Champions and Sportsmanship Awards, and we look forward to doing even better this year. If you are currently a student attending North Toronto Collegiate Institute, you can join our team!
Our team name is Team 820 DeltaTech, and we have two teams under that name: Team 820A and Team 820B.
Find out a bit more about us below:
Our History
The current club was started in 2003 by John Zheng; although a robotics club had existed a couple of years earlier. During the summer before grade 11 at Shad Valley, John heard about a Canadian robotics competition and wanted to create a team. Further research found the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) - now the most recognized international high school robotics competition - was a better competition to join. FRC, the local competition is still held annually in April, consisted of fundraising, outreach and, of course, building a 3 ft machine that would accomplish several different tasks as designated by that year's rules. Even without a machine shop (we partnered with different companies who helped us out with machining), our North Toronto team always managed to do reasonably well, placing in the top 50 in Ontario consistently (and once or twice in the top 20-30). In 2008, we changed to the smaller robots of the FTC (the FIRST Technical Challenge) . We finished in 26th (of about 70) and were fortunate to be chosen by the winning alliance - 1st place. The next year, FTC became the VEX Robotics Competition (VRC).
Our Leadership Team
Our current executive team is made up of:
Head: Wen Bo
Programming Head: Patrick Vuscan
Building Head: Philip Ko
Secretary: Andrew Hall
The Head
is in charge of keeping track of finances, keeping the team on schedule, all administrative tasks, and managing the team in general.
The Programming Head
is in charge of managing the programming of the robot and ensuring all programming is done correctly and on time, along with some other administrative tasks.
The Building Head
is in charge of the building process of the robot, making sure it is built correctly, within the given parameters, and on time, along with some other administrative tasks.
The Secretary
is in charge of organizing meeting and taking notes during meetings, among other necessary tasks.
Our School
"North Toronto Collegiate Institute is a diverse and inclusive community of staff, students, and parents who cultivate a tradition of excellence both within and beyond the classroom. We foster creativity and critical thinking through our academic, artistic, athletic, environmental, and global education programs. Student leadership and school spirit produce a rich variety of extra-curricular opportunities, shaping our culture of involvement, commitment, and caring. Our school community ensures a safe, welcoming, student-focused environment where all can discover their potential through growth in knowledge, skills, and confidence. Our twenty-first century facilities and technology support learning that enables students to act as responsible and engaged citizens in an ever-changing world."
North Toronto CI Website
- North Toronto CI website
Our Teacher
As an alumni of North Toronto CI, Mr. Kinoshita has returned to his former high school as a science and physics teacher. He became the staff adviser of the robotics club when it was first created over 20 years ago. Ever since, he has taken care of registering us for competitions, purchasing the parts we need, and various other tasks.
Apart from that, Mr. Kinoshita frequently helps us with design issues and organizes much of our equipment and parts.
Overall, Mr. Kinoshita has been an incredible mentor and staff adviser for the robotics team and we could not ask for much more of a teacher who is willing to dedicate his time and energy to robotics.
