WAIMEA — Parker School’s Robotics Club recently competed on the world stage at the World Robot Summit 2018 in Tokyo Oct. 17 through 21.
WAIMEA — Parker School’s Robotics Club recently competed on the world stage at the World Robot Summit 2018 in Tokyo Oct. 17 through 21.
Freshmen Del Jordan and Logan Kidani and faculty member Brent Takenouchi represented the school during the five-day competition. The summit included two parts: the World Robot Challenge, a robot competition in which teams competed in four categories where the use of robots is highly expected; and the World Robot Expo, an exhibition that features examples of applied robotics to the world.
Parker’s team, named Invincibull Robotics after the school’s bull mascot, participated in the Junior Home Robot Challenge category. Teams were tasked with creating an innovative idea for the use of a robot at home and developing and programming a robot they built.
“In addition to looking at how their robot could help the visually impaired at home, the students also collaborated with teams from Japan and Australia to create a demonstration of a robot detecting and cornering a home intruder,” said Takenouchi, Parker’s educational technology specialist and design lab coordinator.
The Invincibulls competed against 14 teams from around the world including Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Philippines and two schools from Hawaii.
“The theme, ‘Robotics for Happiness,’ complemented the trip perfectly,” Takenouchi said. “Students were able to experience different cultures, observe development in robotics and connect the two to solve problems in our daily lives.”
This is the second year Parker School’s Robotics Club has competed at the high school level. Middle school students can participate in Tech Club, which encourages interaction with various technologies including robotics, video game programming and creations made in the school’s design lab. Little Techies Club is available for lower school students as a fun introduction to robotics and coding.
