Robotics crew heads to LA

Monday, February 24, 2020 12:05 am

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Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

The Kaua‘iBots high school team, including Martian Binonwangan, Luca Rivera, Loren Weiner, Madhav Collins-Doijode, Michael Tsai, Marc Binonwangan and Joveline Alvarez, surround their robot and show off the energy cells for their robot Sunday during a practice run at Kukui Grove Center. Not shown are team members Ed Pinston, Kaden Keep and Hershel Weiner.

Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island

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LIHUE The team comes from all the public high schools and St. Catherine School, and will be leaving for the 20th annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Los Angeles Regional this week.

LIHU‘E — The team comes from all the public high schools and St. Catherine School, and will be leaving for the 20th annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Los Angeles Regional this week.

“We had to do some last-minute testing, so we came out on Sunday,” said Glenn Nakamoto, one of the Kaua‘iBots leaders. “But there was all kinds of problems with the robot. We had to cut things short.”

Loren Weiner, one of the Kaua‘iBots team members, said the machine was chewing up the yellow balls, also known as energy cells.

“We had the bumper in the front so the balls wouldn’t get run over,” Weiner said. “But there’s nothing in the back, and the balls kept getting shredded because of the sharp parts on the robot.”

Weiner is one of 10 Kaua‘iBots team members in the high school division. She is joined by her brother Hershel Weiner, Kaden Keep, Ed Pinkston, Martian Binonwangan, Luca Rivera, Madhav Collins-Doijode, Michael Tsai, Marc Binonwangan and Jovelina Alvarez.

“We’re heading to the 20th annual FIRST Robotics Los Angeles Regionals,” Loren Weiner said. “We had to put in hours to be considered. Kaden Keep won that part because he put in so much time. We’re all going and try our best against other mainland team, teams from Canada, and just all over.”

The competition starts Friday and runs through the weekend in Los Angeles.

If the team is successful, it earns eligibility to advance to one of two national competitions, one being held in Detroit and the other in Houston.

The Robot 2465 will be packed up and will accompany the group that includes three mentors.

“Everything is components,” Loren Weiner said. “We take it apart in sections and everything is packed in two crates that we’ll take as luggage. Once there, we re-assemble the pieces and the robot is ready to go.”

Nakamoto said this year’s challenge involves a rig measuring nearly 10 feet tall, with the robot and team having to accomplish certain tasks. They are also able to pick up bonus points by doing other tasks beyond the required challenge.

“It can pull itself up and hang on the frame,” said one parent, watching the final tweaking of the competitive machine. “It’s 150 pounds, and it pulls itself up and hangs there.”

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.