Pierre Elliott Trudeau Students Set to Compete in Japan

Since the beginning of the school year, students have worked on Johnny the Robot, a functional machine that was built and programmed during class, recess, lunch and after school. Built with various techniques, including a number of 3D printed parts, Johnny is controlled remotely and designed “dance” to popular music.

Led by teacher Patrick Charland, students won gold and bronze in two categories at the Robocup Junior event in April. During his career, Charland’s students have won the local Robocup Junior competition six times as well as he has competed internationally in Germany, Portugal and Japan, capturing first place on two occasions.

The international robotics competition attracts 4,000 participants from around the world and is the world’s largest event for intelligent and autonomous robots. The organization’s mission is to invent, design and develop prototype robots. The event attracts participants and researches from age 11 to post-doctoral students and its aim is to create the next generation of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations that will impact everyday lives in a positive way. Montreal is scheduled to host the 2018 edition of the competition.

The students are currently fundraising in advance of their trip to Japan.