It’s been a whirlwind of a fall for the Waiakea High School Robotics Club, and the school year is not even half over.
It’s been a whirlwind of a fall for the Waiakea High School Robotics Club, and the school year is not even half over.
The tech-savvy students have excelled on the international robotics stage, and on Dec. 15 will host the Big Island VEX robotic league finals.
Vex league is a qualifying event for the 2013 VEX Robotics Competition World Championship that will be held April 17-20 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.
This year’s game, the Vex Sacks Attack, will challenge students to build the most innovative robots possible while working in teams to integrate science technology engineering and math skills, said a team spokesman.
The championship will gather many of the top robotics teams from around the world to celebrate their accomplishments and compete with/against the best of the best.
For more information about the upcoming WHS robotics event, please contact Dale Olive at: Dale_Olive/WAIAKEAH/HIDOE@notes.k12.hi.us, or Dale Olive at scienceguyme@yahoo.com. For additional information about VEX robotics, visit http://bit.ly/V3XAuj.
Club members participated in the 10th annual Ritsumeikan – second Japan Super Science Fair and conference held Nov. 10-14 in Kyoto, Japan. Waiakea High School is one of only five schools from the United States invited to participate in this fair.
Rits JSS attracted high school students from Russia, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States, in a week of events that included special lectures, science team problem-solving challenges, industrial and historic cultural site tours, and cultural exchange presentations.
Before heading for Tokyo, the club competed in the 2012 International Micro Robot Contest Nov. 4 at Nagoya University.
This prestigious competition attracted teams from Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and the United States to participate in five distinct categories of micro robotic challenge.
WHS, the only U.S. high school competing in the autonomous category of the prestigious tourney, has made the sojourn to Nagoya annually since 2007.
The fully Autonomous Micro Robot Maze, widely recognized as the most challenging event of the 21st annual contest was dominated by Waiakea High School teammates Hajime Hayano and Akil Marshall, who took first place; Nick Winters and Kain Yogi, who finished in second place.
In Remote Controlled Micro Robot, WHS’s Nick Winters and Kain Yogi took first place; Hajime Hayano and Akil Marshall, third place.
In the Micro Robot Racer 1-centimeter cube robot challenge, Wataru Hayashi and Kaci Olive placed second and third, respectively. Waiakea’s Deion Cua and team of Hajime Hayano, Kaci Olive, Nick Winters were also recognized for their achievement in Micro Robotic Performance.
As reported in the Honolulu Star Advertiser on Nov. 20, students from Honolulu Community College on Oahu placed fourth and seventh in the autonomous field of 19 contestants.