LIHU‘E — Ember Lyonlore, of the Honu Warriors robotics team from Kapa‘a Middle School, said their machine finished 13th out of 17 available spots during the last robotics tournament held at Wilcox Gymnasium at Island School.
“This is the first year Kapa‘a Middle School has a robotics team,” Lyonlore said. “Despite finishing 13th, we still qualified to make the state tournament on O‘ahu. If we can win at that tournament, we get a chance to go to Texas for the world competition.”
During the Kaua‘i tournament held on Nov. 19, Kaua‘i Robotics Alliance officials said it was one of the bigger robotics tournament on Kaua‘i.
Seven teams were from Kaua‘i and 10 teams were from O‘ahu, including powerhouse teams, such as ‘Iolani School, Kalani High School and Punahou School.
The Cyber Saints, a Kaua‘i independent team wearing St. Catherine School shirts and currently ranked No. 22 in the world according to robotics officials, finished the day by participating in 10 matches and finishing as the No. 1 ranked team.
“We’re already looking at world,” said Martian Binonwangan, an advisor for the Cyber Saints. “We won last year’s world, and want to see if we can better that. We have one more tournament on O‘ahu on Nov. 25 before the state tournament on Dec. 9. If we can get past these tournaments, we’ll advance to world, again.”
With one more match taking place on Saturday, the Cyber Saints are tied with a team from St. Louis School and the Iobotics from Iolani School.
Other Kaua‘i teams participating in the Island School tournament included the HTA Kaua‘i Robotics from the Hawai‘i Tech Academy that ended in ninth place tying with Kawaikini Robotics, the team from Waimea High School.
A second team from Waimea High School, the Waimea HS Robotics, finished 12th to tie with Pumic Robotics, the team from Kalani High School, and the Honu Warriors and RoboWarriors, a team from Kapa‘a High School.
Island School Robotics, a first time team from Island School, finished in 16th place.
“All teams qualify for the state tournament,” said Cynthia Hannah-White of the Kaua‘i Robotics Alliance board. “Following the tournament, the top 16 teams will advance to the state championship. The winner of that tournament, along with the winner of the top-judged award, will advance to the world championship in Houston, Texas in April of 2024.”
