Bring Robosavages to the Worlds!

Bring Gladstone Robosavages to the VEX Worlds 2016!

Do you want to help sponsor a competitive, international-level team?  Do you want to help a bunch of students in East Vancouver chase a world championship title?  Although you may not be able to sponsor a Formula 1 race car team, you can sponsor a world class robotics team that will do its best to represent our city, our province and our country!


What are the VEX Robotics World Championships?

The VEX Robotics Design System is an exciting platform for students to learn about areas rich with career opportunities spanning Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program offers students the chance to work in an educational environment that promotes hands-on experience in mechanical and electrical engineering, computer programming, marketing, teamwork and leadership.

The Gladstone Robosavages have qualified to attend  the VEX Robotics World Championship for the tenth year in a row—over 10,000 teams from around the world compete to be one of the 480 allowed to compete at the World Championships held in Louisville, Kentucky. Gladstone has had an amazing string of successes at the Worlds. Starting with a 2nd place programming finish in 2011, a 1st and 2nd place finish in 2012, a 3rd place finish in 2013, and a tie for 6th place in 2014 and 2015.


The Robosavages need your help!

The VEX system is proprietary; each part must be purchased from the VEX Robotics website in order to be competition legal. Although the VEX parts are reusable, wear and tear is a common occurrence.  Most of the parts are in excess of 6 years old, some dating to 10 years old. In order to stay competitive, we would like purchase some new parts for certain key areas before we go to the World Championships.  Our junior teams will continue to use our recycled parts.


The areas that are critical for our worlds teams include:

Motors and Electrical Components ($500 per robot)

Structural Components ($300 per robot)

VEXnet Key 2.0 (Wireless Communication Adapters) ($100 per robot)

7.2 V VEX NiMH Batteries ($160 per robot)

VEX Smart Chargers v2 ($90 per robot)

AAA Smart Battery Chargers ($70 per robot)

This is a total of $1220 per robot, $3660 for 3 robots.


The VEX competition requires our robots to play on an official VEX Competition Field. Although we are fortunate enough to own a field of our own, it has endured over 8 years of use. With the current condition of the tiles on our field, our robots no longer have an accurate representation of a competition field, thus affecting our accuracy in matches. We would like to purchase a new set of tiles and game pieces at some point and we would like some help with the fees.


VRC Nothing But Net - Full Game Object & Goal Kit - $650
Competition Field Tile Kit -$300

This is a total of $950.

We also would like help with the event registration fees.  ($850 USD per robot—a total of $3310CDN)

The cost for each student to attend the World Championship is $2500 per student which includes all travel expenses such as, hotel, flights, airport transfer, shipping of robots, food and extra medical coverage.

With our late qualification on March 12th, and the Canadian dollar being low (at 75¢ compared to USD), many of our students are uncertain of whether they will be able to attend, due to the high price. Compared to previous years where our costs were averaging at $1500, we are struggling with the travel costs. We currently only have 9 students who are able to go and over 8 students on the fence due to the cost. Although our students are trying to fundraise, and some even have part time jobs, they and their families will have trouble raising this much money in so little time. We are hoping to raise an additional $8000 to help lower our cost to about $2000 per student, or to fund our 17 team members to various degrees based on financial need.


What this program does for us?

The ability to participate in robotics competitions has been a unique experience for all of our team members as we have been able to have hands-on experience in mechanical and electrical engineering, computer programming, communication, teamwork and leadership. Students in robotics are given a chance to be confident about their potential future career. By contributing to us, you'll be helping to inspire young potential engineers, technicians and scientists.


The Community and the Robosavages

Gladstone has shared their talents in robotics with those in our community. We have run VEX IQ camps for younger students and have showcased ourselves at various organizations such as Vancouver Youth Week and the H.R. Macmillan Space Center. Gladstone is also holding a musical showcase, where students perform hits from Broadway shows, to raise funds for Robotics and Fine Arts programs. You can support us by attending this event, on April 1st, as well!


Support us on Social Media!

You’ve made it this far! If you are unable to assist us with a contribution, that’s okay too. You can still help us by spreading the word. You can share a link to this campaign on your social media accounts.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GladstoneRobosavages

Thank you for your time and support!

Our Success

This year, we have competed in seven tournaments and have accumulated over thirty awards. We have won the Excellence award, the most prestige award, at 6/7 tournaments. The following photos are available for your perusal!