In a joint effort, Waiakea, Hilo High, and Nawahi Schools formed the East Hawaii Robotics team and sent nine students to compete in a Micro Robot Maze contest in Nagoya, Japan on the 9th of November, 2008, with aid from HELCO, C & A Generators, EHRA, University of Hawaii College of Engineering and Waiakea High Staff.
The contest attracted 83 international entries from 19 universities and 4 high schools. Waiakea had six entries and Hilo had two entries. The students from both cross-town rival schools worked together over many months to build and program their respective robots. They became so close during the preparation for the competition that they acted and thought as one cohesive group.
In the one cubic centimeter category, Waiakea's Jon Torigoe was the only high school representative among 24 entries. His highly respectable performance put him in 4th place, beating out all but three of his university competitors. His amazing performance did, however, earn him the Judge's Young Award.
Robots in the one cubic inch autonomous category had to complete a maze without human control. Waiakea had two entries and Hilo had one among 10 entries. This difficult category is one not attempted by many universities due to its complexity. One Waiakea robot died and could not be revived in time for the competition despite a valiant all night effort by Kiennan Materne, Malcolm Mizuba and Cohco Harbour.
Waiakea's other robot, under the programming efforts of Leland Lopez and electronic wizardry of Kelson Lau, provided a very exciting display of technologic expertise, earning them 2nd place. Hilo High school's team, consisting of Casey Pearring and Megan Kurohara, placed a very respectable 3rd place. Both teams, however, won the Best Effort Award for their robots, Smokey and Rofl.
Robots in the one cubic inch remote control category had to complete a maze under human control. This timed event attracted 21 entries, two from Waiakea and one from Hilo. Waiakea's Materne, Mizuba and Harbour were able to revive their robot and tied for 3rd place with a university from Korea. Waiakea's Lau and Lopez tied with a team from Thailand for 2nd place and Hilo's Pearring-Kurohara team earned 6th place.
The impressive showing of these two Hawaii high schools are due in large part to the extraordinary mentoring abilities of Chester Lowrey of H2-Technologies and Riley Ceria, the robotics advisor from the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Engineering.
The combined team from Hilo and Waiakea High were one of only two entrants from the United States to compete this year. The other American representatives are from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Our East Hawaii Robotics students gained the respect of all as they took part in the sharing of technological ideas and cultures. The educational and personal growth value our students gained was immeasurable.
If you have questions about this article or program or wish to help contact Eric Hagiwara, Waiakea High School, 155 West Kawili Street, Hilo, Hawaii 96720 or email Koolrain-hotrocks@hotmail.com
