MEDIA RELEASE

Waiakea High School Robotics team from Hilo, Hawaii does well at the International Micro Robot Maze competition in Nagoya, Japan.

This year commemorates the seventh year Waiakea High
school from Hilo has entered the International Micro Robot Maze Competition held in November at Nagoya University, Japan.

This year’s contest attracted 131 entries from 11 universities and one high school representing five countries.

Waiakea High, led by advisor Eric Hagiwara and mentor Chester Lowery, has become comfortable being the lone high school representative in the university level competition. Normally, the lone representative from the United States, Waiakea was joined this year by teams from Honolulu Community College, led by Norman Takeaya.

The International Micro Robot Maze Contest (MAZE) has been held for 13 years in Nagoya, which is in parallel with the International Symposium on Micro Mechatronics and Human Science (MHS).

This contest is designed to be a catalyst to increase discussion and innovation of the micromachine and micromechatronics technologies.

The MAZE provides six types of competitions; Waiakea entered five categories.

Waiakea High School results of 2013 Micro Maze Competition

* Category 0: Micro Robot Racer (1 cubic centimeter)

Good Design Award – Team Red (Tre Soultz, 10th grade, and Wataru Hayashi, 10th grade)

* Category 1: Mountain Climbing Micro Robot Maze (1 cubic centimeter)

1st Place – Team Chocoholics (Erin Morikawa, 10th grade, Hannah Blue, 12th grade)

* Category 2a: Fully autonomous Micro Robot Maze (1 cubic inch)

3rd place – Team 5 Star (Calvin Uemura, 10th grade, Wataru Hayashi, 10th grade, and Abe Sylvester, 12th grade)

* Category 2b: Remote Control Micro Robot Maze (1 cubic inch)

1st Place – Team Crunchy Jello (Reyn Mukai, 12th grade and Abe Sylvester, 12th grade)

2nd Place – Team 5 Star (Calvin Uemura, 10th grade, Wataru Hayashi, 10th grade and Abe Sylvester, 12th grade)

Good Performance Award – Team Red (Tre Soultz, 10th grade and Wataru Hayashi, 10th grade)

* Category 4: Micro Robot Performance

2nd Place – Team Chocoholics (Erin Morikawa, 10th grade and Hannah Blue, 10th grade)

All robots were designed, built and programed from the ground up by the students.