Five ranger class teams participate in regional robotics competition

HONOKAA — Last Saturday, the Honokaa swimming pool hosted the Big Island Regional Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) competition.

Teams from Earl’s Garage, Kealakehe High and Hawaii Technology Academy participated. Names ranged from ROV Designers, Inc., Aquatic Allstars and Happy to Assist, to Radicals, Lalo ka Wai and Nani Kukui o ke Kai or NK3.

Forty-three students in third to ninth grades worked to fix a broken water and light show, laid the foundation for a new shipping container delivery system, and tested and capped contaminated sediments. The underwater robots and the competition task pieces were largely created from PVC piping.

While the younger scout class was allowed to drive their robot while looking over the side of the pool, in the ranger class the ROVs were guided by pilots seated with their backs to the pool. The pilots made all decisions and maneuvers using images on a screen coming from a camera mounted to the front of their robots.

Competition was intense among the five ranger class teams, with several just a few points apart in almost every judging category. Teams were judged on robot size and safety, their marketing display board and the team oral presentation in addition to their scores in the underwater tasks.

The Radicals team from Kealakehe received special recognition for their honesty in notifying the judges that they had been awarded points for a task they had not completed. The Happy to Assist team from Hawaii Technology Academy also received recognition for courage to be the first in the water and braving an initial setup. Mentor Randy Weir joked that his team might change their name to “Happy to Lead.” In water set up and support was provided by Big Island Divers.

At the end, competition judge Al Honey took a few moments to share with the students “learning skills that have important real world applications.” He also told stories from his own personal experiences retrieving parts from the shuttle Challenger disaster, as well as maintenance and monitoring of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

MATE emphasizes that their competition “is designed to be an event that challenges the students to apply skills from their learning in the classroom to solve problems in the marine environment. Mentors are encouraged to focus on the benefits of the process, not simply on winning the competition.”