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Email: "Iao robotics team is fifth best in Hawaii"
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HONOLULU — Iao Intermediate School’s robotics team made the finals of and finished fifth in the Hawaii Regional Botball Tournament held earlier this month on Oahu.

The team of six 8th-graders and their bots, Low Rider and Bobo, competed in a high-tech contest among robots designed, built and programmed by students over a nine-week period. The competition on May 10 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center drew 38 squads of intermediate- and high-school-age students.

Two robots worked together to complete the mission, a simulated space scenario in which the bots raced against time to rescue crew members and recover food supplies, satellites and solar sails after a devastating solar flare. Mission items were represented by pompoms, plastic cups, cocktail umbrellas and a plush doll in a game arena measuring about 64 square feet.

The winners were determined by total points earned in seeding matches, double-elimination rounds and documentation such as plans and photos of the project. The teams also had to give an oral presentation.

At the tournament, students were required to set up, calibrate and troubleshoot their bots without the help of their teachers and mentors. Their programming had to be good enough for the bots to run the scenario for two minutes.

Iao School’s team maneuvered Low Rider and Bobo into 20th place in the seeding matches, but high scores for documentation got the Iao crew into the 12-team final round and eventually a fifth-place finish.

Wahiawa Middle School of Oahu captured first place overall.

In head-to-head seeding competition, Iao was able to outperform teams from Moanalua High School, Highlands Intermediate, Earl’s Garage of the Big Island and Waipahu Intermediate before being knocked out in the double-elimination segment by another Moanalua team and Kapaa Middle School of Kauai.

The Iao team consisted of Ty Higa, Taylor Hori, Kristi Kim, Lauren Unemori, Tyler Yamada and Janelle You.

The students were mentored by Shiho You, a software engineer with Boeing, and received financial support from Maui Economic Development Board, Monsanto Hawaii, Warren S. Unemori Engineering, Otomo Engineering, Maui Oil Co., Ronald Fukumoto Engineering and several individuals.

This isn’t the end of the road for Low Rider and Bobo. The Iao team will compete in the International Botball Tournament, scheduled July 9-11 at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

All who entered the regional competition are eligible for the summer event.

There were two other Maui teams at the competition, King Kekaulike High School, which finished 27th overall, and Maui Waena/Maui High School, which placed 35th.

The Maui Waena/Maui High team also won a the judge’s choice “KISS Award” for its simplicity of design, which is a key aspect of tech designs.

 

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