What on earth — miniature rovers!
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
At 10 a.m. yesterday, while few Earthlings were paying attention, a half-dozen miniature martian rovers carefully rolled down their landing craft ramps and set about performing a series of intricate tasks in what appeared to be a hostile and alien atmosphere.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Fifty minutes after it began, "Mission Mars" was deemed a total success and cheers rang out throughout the Mililani Middle School cafeteria, where all the brains behind the intriguing enterprise had congregated.
Six teams from four schools participated in yesterday's FIRST Lego League Tournament in Mililani. The Kalani Falcons, which included, from left, Tyana Opetaia-Kalima, Matthew Edboi and Holu Ka'aihue, took top honors in the robotics competition.
About four dozen students representing six teams from four schools had participated in the FIRST Lego League Tournament robotics competition. Each one was aware that history had been made.
"We're the first ones to win — ever! — in Hawai'i," said Matthew Edboi, moments after his team, the Kalani Falcons, took top honors in the robotics competition.
Appropriately enough, the winning trophy that Edboi clutched in his hands had one thing in common with the competition robots: It was made of Lego construction toy parts.
Despite being the first tournament of its kind in Hawai'i, the event took place with virtually no fanfare. But what it lacked in advance media attention was offset by youthful enthusiasm and the expectation that other such Lego League tourneys in Hawai'i would follow.
"We got together to see if we could pull this off," said Sara Tamayose, Mililani teacher and event organizer. "And we did."
Tamayose was confident that yesterday's tourney was only the beginning.
"This is a combination fun and educational activity," said Aaron Dengler, a Punahou curricular technological specialist who helped get his school involved. "These tasks were things the actual rover would try to do on Mars, such as lifting something, clearing dust off the module, getting off the ramp in the first place, and navigating rough terrain."
The computerized robots were programmed in advance. Students were not allowed to touch them once the contest began. The idea was to test students' creativity, analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
The rovers maneuvered on a pair of 4-by-8 platforms on which a series of tasks could be performed by the battery-operated robots. Since the three-minute limit was not enough time to complete all the tasks, student programmers developed strategies for which they received points.
The FIRST Lego League International began in 1999 as a partnership between the Lego toy company and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a program designed to interest kids 9 through 14 in science and technology.
In 2002 students at Mililani tried to find a local tournament, but discovered that 'Aina Haina Elementary was the only other O'ahu school participating in the Lego robotics program.
Because a two-team competition didn't sound appealing, Mililani students raised the money to travel to a Lego robotics competition in Carlsbad, Calif., where they won the "Rookie Award" and placed 11th out of 35 teams.
Since then, other O'ahu schools have become involved. Yesterday's competition included teams from Kalani and Punahou as well as two teams each from 'Aina Haina Elementary and Mililani Middle School.
"We wanted to keep the first one small and low-key so we could handle the crowds and go through this experience of seeing what the competition is going to be like," said Dengler. "I'm sure there will be something like this each year from now on, because this is tremendously popular with students and parents."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
