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A team from Highlands Intermediate and Pearl City High School is in Canada this week to take part in the annual Marine Advanced Technology Education robotics competition, which challenges students to use science and engineering skills underwater.
Pearl City High School freshman Eric Schlitzkus maintains that his team’s robot — named Kaikoa, or ocean guardian — is ready.
Last week, before heading to the event in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with the 12-member robotics team, Schlitzkus used a wrench to tighten a nut on the front of the underwater robot, sealing a watertight chamber that contains lasers and a front-facing camera.
Teammate Alex Yamada said the students have been working on Kaikoa’s design and operation for months. The robot was built on a budget of $5,000.
At the competition, which gets underway Thursday, the team will guide its robot through "extreme underwater conditions" that simulate the real-world environment in Canada’s northeastern Newfoundland and Labrador province, which includes harsh currents and waves. The team has programmed the robot with code that aims to keep Kaikoa stable while navigating a course at the bottom of a large aquatic tank that involves inspection of oil pipelines. For example, the robot can power its thrusters and adjust ballasts to hold its place amid Atlantic Ocean turbulence.
Judges also will evaluate teams on marketing presentations and business plans.
Each team will present itself to judges as a corporation that specializes in making and selling underwater robots. The Highlands Intermediate and Pearl City High team is called Kaimana Enterprises.
Schlitzkus said his team tried to make a remotely operated underwater vehicle that was not only efficient, but also cost-effective.
Yamada, who serves as Kaimana Enterprises’ CEO, said in addition to mastering some basic engineering skills, his role has required a lot of technical writing.
"The competition is great because it gives you a sense of what a real company is like and what real engineers do," he said.
Yamada, a sophomore at Pearl City High School, said that over the past few years he has participated in several science competitions that have involved travel across the Pacific. Recently, Yamada was one of 25 high school students to represent Hawaii in the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Pittsburgh.
On Thursday, Kaimana Enterprises’ adviser and Highlands Intermediate science teacher Kathy Lin was preparing paperwork to make sure the robot, which travels with the team, is handled with care while in transit. She said one year, a team from Egypt had to repair its robot because wires were cut during travel, perhaps while in the hands of customs officials.
Yamada said his team plans to watch the movie "Spare Parts" after returning from Canada. Starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marisa Tomei, the 2015 movie is based on the story of the competition’s 2004 winners: a team from Phoenix, consisting of four undocumented immigrants from Mexico who a built an underwater robot from spare automobile parts. The team beat out others including Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the MATE competition.
Kaimana Enterprises will compete in MATE’s Ranger Class, which will pit the Pearl City team against 35 top teams from around the globe, including some from universities. The first MATE competition was held in 2002.
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM