PISCES robotics competition a bust

A second annual international robotics competition hosted on the Big Island became a nonevent this year after only the team from University of Hawaii at Hilo showed up.

Six teams from Hawaii, the mainland and Colombia were expected to participate in the competition that was scheduled to run from last Saturday through Thursday.

With no other teams participating, the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, which runs the event, allowed the UH-Hilo team to practice with its new rover at the test site near Saddle Road.

John Hamilton, PISCES test logistics manager, said Tuesday that financial issues were probably reasons for two of the teams not making it, but he was still trying to find out what caused the other no-shows.

“We’re carrying on the best we can,” he said.

While it had use of the site, PISCES also tested new software for NASA that was installed on its rover, Hamilton said.

During the competition, teams remotely control their rovers from Hilo and perform space-related tests that mimic mining of martian or lunar material.

The conflict of Mauna Kea over the Thirty Meter Telescope and reports of PISCES being underfunded might have been contributing factors to the cancellations, Hamilton said.

The event was to be held less than a mile from the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station, the site of ongoing protests against the TMT, but PISCES couldn’t get a permit due to new emergency rules on the mountain.

The competition instead got a permit from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to use Puu Nene near Saddle Road.

Hamilton said he intends to try the event, called the PISCES Robotic International Space Mining competition, again next year.

Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaii tribune-herald.com.