The FIRST Hawai’i Regional Robotics Competition was won by three teams from McKinley High, Waialua High and Kealakehe High School this year, allowing them to qualify for the St. Louis 2011 FIRST Robotics Championship, which would be held from April 27-30.
Hawai‘i Regional Robotics Competition
Totally, six teams from Hawai’i schools have won places in the International championships. The weekend saw 55 qualifying matches being played wherein the Kealakehe, McKinley and Waialua alliance won the third match out of three matches. An alliance consisting of Lahainaluna, Waiakea and Baldwin High Schools won the rest.
A number of other recognitions were also awarded to the students belonging to the competing teams, such as the Rookie of the year award, Co-operation Award, Industrial Safety Award, Quality Award and so on. The competition saw the participation of over 1000 students from 32 private, public and charter schools from all over the state and even from Australia in the Stan Sheriff Center at Manoa’s University of Hawai’i. The game for this year was LOGO MOTION where two alliances consisting of three teams would compete on a field of dimensions 27 x 54 feet by hanging logo pieces of various shapes such as triangle, square and circle, and gain points. Whichever robot hangs and forms the FIRST logo would also gain bonus points. Finally, minibots need to climb vertical poles for gaining additional points for their teams.
The FIRST Robotics Competition stimulates teams of young people working in tandem with their mentors, to find a solution for a common engineering problem in a timeframe of six weeks utilizing a standard component kit and a set of rules applicable to all the teams. The competition motivates the students to develop their innovation skills and academic knowledge while improving their problem solving, critical thinking and team working skills, which would help them when they enter the workforce.