Robotics offers students array of experiences, competition and skills

Robots, parts and testing areas dominate the main room of North Kohala’s Bond Library. Machines from previous years rest, with some of their parts removed to construct new machines. Members of the Kohala High School robotics club adjust flywheels, belts and connections for this year’s contestant.

It’s “hard fun,” says Fern White, the team’s adviser, who also teaches English at Kohala High.

The club, which began during the 2007-08 academic year, works together to develop a robot’s body and programming. This can take the team of three committed students 80 or more hours to complete.

The robots are made out of aluminum forms with regularly punched squares, small electric motors and computer units. Much of the work is done by bolting the forms together and running wires to match the team’s design. But the materials don’t always come in the form of what the team needs: sometimes they have to cut aluminum sheets, drill squares or grind elements to fit within a machine.

Student Joshua Page says he enjoys this physical work, turning the disparate parts into the team’s idea. He added it’s far more interesting than video games or other entertainment.

Using his ideas to help out the team is one of club member Page’s favorite times.

“All ideas need to be heard, even though all ideas don’t work,” said White. It’s in this time that ideas come together to form a machine, she said.

The design process begins on graph paper before it’s transferred to an engineer’s notebook, where commentary on the group’s decisions and the problems they overcame can also be found.

This is where communication skills become important, explains White. By recording information here clearly, other workers can follow the logic.

That is also the case when it comes to writing the programs that render the actions of the operator into robotic motions, or even allow the robot to run itself, she said.

Students Elijah Kaliko Dela Cruz and Kaimi Hook work together on much of this part of the project.

“Programming is actually pretty easy,” said Hook.

Hook lays out ideas and how they will flow, then Dela Cruz converts them into language the robot can understand, Dela Cruz said.

During the competition the machine has to run on its own for 15 seconds, then it is taken over by an operator. They use a controller with control sticks and buttons that looks much like a controller used for video games.

Each year the competition changes, however.

This year’s challenge is collecting foam balls from the ground and throwing them into baskets. The Kohala High School robotics team decided on a square machine that picks up a ball, loads it on a track and launches it with spinning wheels.

During competitions, the team found it’s too difficult to pick up the balls, reducing how rapidly the balls can be shot. Dela Cruz was considering a mechanism involving rollers and flywheels to snag the ball and send it into the machinery, but the extent of the alterations that would be required has led the team to consider a second robot altogether rather than trying to alter the current one.

The team’s next challenge is Sept. 18 and 19 where they will take on teams from other Hawaii schools. This gives them a short time to reorient after the Central Oahu VEX Robotics competition on Aug. 28 and 29 on Oahu.

During last month’s competition, the group learned an important lesson, said White. While maneuvering in the play area, the team drove into the opponent’s starting zone and was disqualified.

Such incidents help teach people how to react after a failure, she said. It demands introspection and consideration, instead of ignoring the cause and stumbling forward.

In order to remain active, the students have to be humble and figure out how to correct the problem before future competition, she said.

Robotics is like a sport, said Dela Cruz, although it requires a level of dedication not seen in most sports. The competitive nature of people comes out, and you want to beat the other team at competitions.

And by beating them you can become eligible for the world competitions. Kohala High School’s robotics team has traveled to the world competitions before, including a trip to China.

Dela Cruz followed a family tradition, entering the same club his brothers had before. Some of his siblings now following degrees in the field of science, technology, engineering and math, he said, while others are working on cars. He also likes the field as an injury left his left side partially paralyzed, limiting his ability to participate in sports and physical activities.

White, the team’s adviser, said the increased number of STEM jobs coming up is encouraging her to focus on getting even more students involved.

With 70 percent or more of students qualifying for Title I, it’s even more important, she said. “Title I” is the federal program that provides funding to local school districts to improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students.

This robotics program can make a difference, she said. One student who came from a sometimes unstable single-parent home has now progressed to a university, she said. Another student who wrote an essay in 10th grade about wanting to fly is now a pilot.

That’s possible because of the skills taught, she said, and the money available for scholarships and grants. Much of that money is directed to STEM areas. It also gives the students a variety of authentic, performance-based challenges, she said.

The three club members – Page, Hook Dela Cruz — are interested in going into engineering, but are maintaining a broad view at this point.

Page had looked at optics, but is now more interested in working with something related to robotics. He said he wants to take what he learned here and apply them to other efforts.

Working with the team has further taught him programming. That’s a good option for someone like himself who says he wasn’t much interested in sports.

Hook has already seen one of the overlapping elements within robotics. As a Boy Scout, he was able to earn his robotics merit badge by using his previous year’s effort. That places him within three badges of beginning to qualify for Eagle Scout, Scouting’s highest honor.

“I have learned more life skills (in robotics) than in any sport,” said Hook, who is also a pitcher in baseball.

Dela Cruz said that working in robotics has been unique, with an English teacher for an adviser, engineers and ranchers as supporters and numerous journeys involved.

The Kohala High School robotics team meets in the main space of Bond Library from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday. The library is located off Akoni Pule Highway in Kapaau. Information about the team is also available online at http://kohalahs2460.weebly.com/.

For more information about robotics in Hawaii, visit friendsofhawaiirobotics.com