The Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team earned the Judges Award for creating a sustainable plan for FIRST Robotics on the Garden Isle, said Mary Lu Kelley of Oceanit.
The team, consisting of 32 students and a dozen mentors, took part in the Second Annual FIRST Robotics Hawai‘i Regional Competition, March 26-28 on O‘ahu where they earned the award for their efforts in creating a hui that allows any high school student to participate in FIRST Robotics on the Kaua‘i Island team.
Kelley, one of the Kaua‘i Island team mentors, said this season the team included students from Island School and students from the three public high schools.
Through the combined efforts of the students and mentors, the team created its 2009 robotics entry called “Thunderchicken,” a 5-foot-tall, 120-pound, four-wheel drive robot designed to compete in this year’s “Lunacy” game.
In presenting the award to the team, the judges acknowledged that the team makes good use of the limited resources on Kaua‘i in the area of funds and mentoring by combining the high schools on the island to make up one team.
Kelley said this model works well with mentoring.
“When a company supports its engineering staff in mentoring the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team, it is helping to mentor students from all the high schools on Kaua‘i,” Kelley said in a news release.
The Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics hui model is being touted as a model for other rural areas with limited resources around the world, Kelley said.
A teacher from Guam, where there are 12 high schools and very little industry beyond the military, has already approached some of the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics mentors for advice in creating a FIRST Robotics hui there, Kelley said.
Following 61 round of competition at the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, O‘ahu, the Blue Alliance surfaced as the winner, qualifying for the World Championship in Atlanta, Ga. That alliance included Maui High School, McKinley High School and Moanalua High School.
Waialua High School also earned a place in the World Championship by winning the Chairman’s Award.
At the World Championship that concluded Saturday at the Georgia Dome, Waialua earned special recognition and a Judge’s Award, finishing 41st out of 86 teams in its division. This was Waialua’s sixth championship appearance.
McKinley, making its fourth appearance at the World Championships, advanced to the semifinals in its division and finished 23rd out of 88 teams.
Maui High School, making its first appearance at the championships, finished 18th out of 87 teams in its division and Moanalua High School, also making its debut at the championships, finished 72nd out of 86 teams in its division.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an exciting, multinational competition that teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way, according to the release.
More than 42,000 high school-aged young people on more than 1,686 teams participate in 41 regional events. Currently, teams come from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey, the United Kingdom and each of the 50 states.
The competitions are high-tech spectator sporting events, the result of focused brainstorming, real-world teamwork, dedicated mentoring, project timelines and deadlines.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
