Waiakea High School, as the first American Secondary School to participate, competed against Asian college and other high school teams in the Micro Robot Racer contest, the Mountain Climbing Micro Robot Maze Competition, the Fully Autonomous Micro Robot Maze Competition, the Remote-Controlled Micro Robot Maze Competition. Their micro robots are either one cubic inch or one cubic centimeter in size, with components so small that they were required to use a microscope or magnifying lenses to do much of their work. Highly student centered, the team was mentored by Waiakea High School graduate, Riley Ceria, a University of Hawaii electrical engineering graduate, working for the CalTech Submillimeter Observatory in Hilo which provided him with work time off to participate in the regular after school meetings since this past spring. Their months long hard work paid off by their winning: 1. First Place, Fully Autonomous Micro Robot Maze Competition (robot name: Teeny Humuhumu) 2. Third Place, Micro Robot Racer (robot name: Stich.05) 3. Special judges award 5th overall standing, Remote Controlled Micro Robot Maze Competition (robot name: Teeny Humuhumu) We can be very proud of their representing the United States (and Hawaii) in this robot competition, not only for the quality of their performance but their promoting the Aloha spirit and our culture throughout their stay in Japan. The four judges were Dr. Mikio Horie, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Dr. Tyzh-jong Tarn, Washington University in St. Louis, Center for Robotics and Automation, Dr. Fumihito Arai, Tohoku University, Dept of Bioengineering and Robotics), and Art Kimura, Hawaii Space Grant Consortium, University of Hawaii. The skill sets (which include designing and fabricating their own circuit boards and working on a scale that have important implications for future developmental work in nano technology). Their 8 day Japan experience included: the National Museum of Emerging Science and Technology, the Sony ExploraScience Museum, the Toyota Commemorative Museum, and a visit to Meinan Technical High School. Among the Japanese high schools competing was Ritsumeikan Senior High School, which has been designated as a Super Science High School by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; an invitation has been extended to Hawaii to have Hawaii students and teachers participate in their annual fall Super Science Fair, a symposium of 100 student speakers, team events and home stay in October 2008, and to promote further cooperation and discussion about STEM through future student and teacher exchanges. With the checklist and procedures that were developed, we hope that other Hawaii schools will be able to have such a rich experience as well in the future. The journey has forged a bridge of further understanding and cooperation of students and teachers in Hawaii and Japan. |
