By Raaghav A.
The annual ACAMIS (Association of China and Mongolia International Schools) VEX Championship was an event consisting of 15 schools from all around China, including AISG’s robotics team. It took place in CIS (Canadian International School of Guangzhou) over the course of 3 days (April 19-21).
AISG’s high school robotics team competed in the VEX VRC category, with the game that the teams had to design a robot for being “Over Under”.
Each day of the tournament had its own purpose. Friday was dedicated entirely to free practice, where teams finalized their robots and made sure all components were working.
Saturday opened qualifying, which had teams go head-to-head in a time trial to see who would finish the obstacle courses the fastest. AISG 1’s Ian (’26) led his team to finish second behind TIS 1 (The International School of Macau).
“My driving was ‘pro’,” is what Ian had to say about his remarkable driving of his robot.
Sunday proceeded with the elimination bracket, where teams were paired up in alliances and fought each other in a cutthroat race for the championship. AISG 1 was paired up with a team from CIS, and AISG 2 got together with a team from TIS.
The exhilarating battles narrowed down to a final between two alliances which were AISG 1 and CIS against AISG 2 and TIS. This heated final ended up with AISG 2 and TIS lifting the championship, and with AISG bringing home a 1-2 finish in the VEX VCR event.
Rachel (‘25) from AISG 2 revealed her thoughts from the tournament: “The competition was great; it was nice meeting new people. We didn’t expect to win because we had issues with our robot the day before but thankfully it was resolved in time. It’s great that we were able to communicate with our alliance and win in the end.”
She along with her teammates Olivia (‘26) and Yoyo (‘25) walked away with a championship despite not being together for long. “This is only my team’s second year in VEX so having this achievement was a phenomenal experience for us.”
Ian (‘26) for AISG 1 spoke up on his emotions from the tournament: “We got a 1-2 but felt bad because our team got second.” Ian alongside Michael (’26) and Peter (’26) landed short of the championship by one place.
Mr. Tyler, the coach and supervisor of AISG’s robotics team, had only praise for the high finishers: “The students have grown so much this year and having both our teams finish first and second is a testament to their hard work and growth. I was proud of both teams of AISG both for their result and sportsmanship.”
Mr. Tyler’s emphatic comment on the ACAMIS winners: “Another worthy note is that Olivia, Rachel, and Yoyo were the only all-female team at the competition too and those ladies have worked tirelessly on their robot this entire year and it was even that more wonderful to see them win our final competition. I’m looking forward to next year how the continual growth of our entire AISG robotics team.”
The ACAMIS VEX competition was a success in the eyes of AISG’s robotics team. Their hard work over the course of the year has paid off and is reflected in the results.