Competing against some 60 other teams of middle and high school students, the IPA Robotics Team placed eighth overall in the Hawaii Botball Regional Robotics tournament held on May 7. This was the first tournament for the IPA team, made up of twelve 6th graders and four 8th graders.

^{IPA's Robotics Team at the tournament with their robots Bob and Roger.}

Faculty leader and Secondary Division Science Co-Chair Michelle Bradley was very pleased with their overall performance. "It is amazing what our students can do when given the opportunity to learn about technology and engineering through robotics. I could not have imagined how well they would do in this tournament. They really responded under the pressure of the tournament when troubleshooting and adapting the design and programming was needed. The IPA Robotics Program had an awesome first tournament!"

For this tournament, the students had to design and build their robots. Instead of being managed by remote control, the robots in this tournament had to be programmed with a language known as “C.” The IPA team members have been working together for a six-week build. Students were excited to experience their first competitive tournament, which they attended in newly designed team shirts, organized by team mom, Tonya St. John.

Melissa Handy, Technology Director at IPA, also worked with the students. "Students needed to learn problem solving, programming, engineering, and teamwork skills to succeed in the tournament,” said Handy. “They had to work together to figure out ways to engineer and program their robots to achieve the highest possible points during the competition. There were many problems to solve along the way."

^{Scores at the tournament were given on robot performance and presentation of a team project board in addition to points earned for documents uploaded to the web. Teams were also awarded points for spirit.}

The students had to prepare their robots based on pre-planned strategies and then during the tournament adapt by reprogramming and building in real-time as they sized up opponents. About the experience, sixth grader Andrew Merriman reported, "I learned that if we didn't set our robot in a specific spot our programming wouldn't work. We really had to pay attention to details."

KISS Institute for Practical Robotics waived most of the $2,500 entry fee to help make it possible for the IPA team to participate in this year’s competition. The school will be seeking additional grants and other support to continue and expand the robotics program. Bradley adds her thanks to parents who supported the team in many ways over the past several weeks.

Botball is one of six programs supported by the Hawaii Robotics Organizing Committee. To learn more about the Hawaii Robotics Organizing Committee, visit: www.hawaiiiroc.org. For a complete listing of winners at the tournament, click here.