PUHI — Sponsors and parents got an opportunity to view the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team vehicle go through some of its paces Wednesday at Island School. FIRST is an acronym standing for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
PUHI — Sponsors and parents got an opportunity to view the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team vehicle go through some of its paces Wednesday at Island School.
FIRST is an acronym standing for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”
The Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team will be participating in the Hawai‘i Regional FIRST Robotics competition at the Stan Sheriff Center on O‘ahu next month, and according to Mary Lu Kelley, the Oceanit Program Support Specialist, the team held a special mahalo dinner for its mentors and sponsors.
During the get-together, student team members displayed and operated their 2009 robot that will be competing in the international competition where high school teams from Mexico and the Philippines will be joining the 24 Hawai‘i and nine Mainland high school teams.
FIRST Robotics is a complex and comprehensive robotics program which results in a robot measuring five feet tall, weighing 120 pounds. The robot is built by students and programmed using C++, a software programming language commonly used in the workplace, said Oceanit mentor Scott Libert.
Under the terms of the competition, the students start building from Jan. 5, the date of the announcement, through Feb. 19, when the robot is shipped to O‘ahu and stored until the competition opens Mar. 26.
Guests also toured the workshop located on the campus of Island School to view some of the equipment used to create and operate the robot.
“I need to get a picture of this,” said Mason Chock of Leadership Kaua‘i as he viewed the welding equipment. “Our funds helped purchase this.”
Other sponsors for the Kaua‘i FIRST Robotics team include NASA, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative, Textron, BAE Systems, Matson Navigation, Syngenta Seeds, the Young Brothers Community Advisory Board, the Kaua‘i Economic Development Board’s Aloha ‘Ike Fund, and the Parker Group, Kelley said.
The robot was designed, built and programmed by students from Island School and all three of Kaua‘i’s public high school under the guidance of mentors from Oceanit, KIUC, IT Kaua‘i, the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Mana, and the Parker Group. Advisors include five teachers from Island School, Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i high schools.
“Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics Team, a hui/consortium for all of Kaua‘i’s high school students to participated in FIRST Robotics, is an appropriate model for this expensive robotics program in these tight economic times,” Kelley said. “The hui has received generous support in the form of donations and mentorship from Kaua‘i’s business community instead of each high school competing for support from the limited resources on the island.”
Additionally, Kelley said the hui is bringing together students from all four of the main high schools on the island to work together on a fun, yet challenging, project.
Island School was committed to continuing its participation in FIRST Robotics, but the public high schools, for a variety of reasons, could not sponsor FIRST Robotics team on their campuses for the 2009 season.
Island School invited and enrolled students from the public high schools to join its team of 20 students, and renamed the team to the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team and the “Kauaibots.”
The Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team is made up of two students from Waimea High School, one student from Kaua‘i High School, four students from Kapa‘a High School and the Island School crew, all actively participating in the project during after-school and weekend labs.
“We hope to have even more students from the public high schools involved next year,” said Marissa Balasco, a Kaua‘i High School science teacher.
Jim Cox, a Kapa‘a High School teacher, said the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team is a model of cooperation for other Hawai‘i high schools as a true expression of the aloha spirit and of FIRST’s goal of developing “gracious professionalism,” Kelley said.
FIRST Robotics introduces high school students to engineering, mathematics, science and technology, creating a future technological workforce for Kaua‘i, states an Oceanit release.
“FIRST Robotics is the best program to develop problem solving, teamwork, mechanical and technological skills for students,” said James Massaro and Michal Mann, both teachers at Island School. “The skills learned in this program will support students with their education as well as in their careers and as community members.”
In 2008, Island School started its rookie season in the FIRST Robotics program. A team of 11 students and four mentors struggled to build a robot and succeeded in creating a functional but not very competitive robot.
That experience at the competition was so great the students were designing new prototypes on the way to the airport following the competition.
Waimea High School also emerged with a rookie team in 2008. That team consisted of 16 students, four teachers and about 10 mentors.
Kelley said the three main objectives for this year are to successfully integrate the students from the other schools into the team, be successful in fundraising and sponsorship programs and build a more competitive robot than last year.
The mahalo dinner was coordinated by Massaro and Charlene Stueri, an Island School math teacher who has two children on the Kaua‘i Island FIRST Robotics team.
