Segway scooter inventor Dean Kamen — whose nonprofit foundation FIRST focuses on getting students ages 6 to 18 around the globe excited about robotics, engineering and math — calls tech-savvy competitions such as one recently staged in Honolulu the “Super Bowl of Smarts.”
Earlier this month, high school robotics teams from Hawaii and from places as far-flung as China, Australia, Taiwan, California and New York faced off at the University of Hawaii-Manoa in the 10th annual FIRST Robotics Regional Competition. Lenny Klompus, who has helped shape the thriving robotics movement in Hawaii, serves as president and board chairman at Hawaii Friends of Robotics.
“I’m proud that our student teams felt the regional had that ‘Super Bowl’ feel,” Klompus said. “Months and months of planning meetings went into the detailed orchestration. Everyone came together for our kids, and are inspired by them.”
A Maryland native, Klompus became acquainted with Hawaii when his sports syndication company handled broadcasting of the Hula Bowl in the late 1970s and later the Aloha Bowl. Three years later, he moved here with his wife, Marcia. After several years of syndicating bowl games and other events, he went on to serve as an adviser in former Gov. Linda Lingle’s two-term administration.
About 11 years ago, Klompus met Kamen, who laid out his mission for the student-focused FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) for interested community leaders and others. “It was clear to us that we should ensure Hawaii students have this opportunity. We had one shot to either ‘think about it’ or say ‘yes.’ And ‘yes’ it was. Eighteen months later, we presented our inaugural FIRST regional.”
The local movement got underway with a few high schools putting together pioneering teams. Now an estimated 8,000 kids are taking part statewide, with more than 500 teams lining up for competitions starting at the elementary school level.
Question: Are you surprised by the competition’s growth over the past decade?
Answer: The exponential growth of robotics in the state has developed from wearing out shoe-leather coupled with the welcoming ear of principals and teachers. Also, we’ve been relentless in our recruiting teams outside of the state.
We’d go to world championships for various programs and walk the “pits,” pitching our state championships/regionals. Every team would get an E KOMO MAI package, which included macadamia nuts, and outlined how Hawaii events are special. Upon our return to Hawaii, we were always on the phone or sending emails to everyone we had met. And, as one team participates and enjoys the experience, they tell other teams.
This persistence has paid off year after year. However, the real credit goes to the teachers, mentors and advisers who give so much of themselves to their students every single day.
Q: Has technology used in the competitions changed significantly over the years?
A: The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) robot is built in a six-week period and cannot weigh more than 120 pounds. (For the 10th anniversary event, teams design it to scoot, collect plastic balls and launch them at a target.) The components that make up the robot are … very intricate. Ten years ago, the scope of technology in the classroom was not as advanced.
Students today develop their robots on 3D computer-aided design (CAD) programs and have the ability to work with comprehensive machinery like mills, lathes and waterjets to develop manufacturing skills. Many schools even have a 3D printer in their classrooms.
Students are also picking up programming and coding skills, which are becoming basic requirements for any technological job.
Q: How do organizers come up with team-oriented challenges/games for the competitions?
A: There is a design committee at FIRST that works in conjunction with Disney. Changes are made each year to make the game mission “relevant” to the real world while being interesting to the general public. Clearly, as innovation has developed, the games have gotten much more complicated.
Q: Friends of Hawaii Robotics now supports nine different robotics programs in elementary, middle and high schools statewide?
A: Yes, we work directly with the schools. We do all we can to assist each school and to sustain their teams year after year. The fastest-growing programs are the underwater robotics platforms — including a Remote Operating Vehicle (ROV) program headed by the Coast Guard.
Q: Does Friends of Hawaii Robotics conduct any sort of follow-up with past teams?
A: Yes, we’re doing all we can to update “where-are-they now?” lists. From business to medicine to technology to engineering, we have students that have succeeded at all levels. … Our Miss Hawaii from two years ago, Stephanie Stueri, a robotics student from Kauai, graduated from the UH and is now in veterinary school at the University of Tennessee.
Another very special robotics student, Angela Wong, who initially volunteered for us while at Sacred Hearts Academy, now serves on our board of trustees and is completing her sophomore year at Cal Poly majoring in aeronautical engineering. Angela will be employed this summer at Boeing in Washington State.
Q: You have said watching student teams in action bolsters your confidence that Hawaii can produce a strong future workforce. What do you think of Gov. David Ige’s effort to expand the state’s innovation/technology sector?
A: Our students are growing, creating and innovating every day. They inspire all of us with their knowledge and how they work as a team to solve real-world problems. Any public programs would be helpful. Knowing that Gov. Ige an engineer is especially helpful. He displayed his passion by attending the 10th anniversary event.
Q: What do you find most challenging in your Friends of Hawaii Robotics work?
A: The headquarters of each robotics program charges a great deal of money for all components, including registration and kit-of-parts, plus neighbor island teams have travel costs. Fundraising has been successful, but like all not-for-profits, it gets more difficult each year.
Q: Most rewarding?
A: It has been a blessing to have the chance to create STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) opportunities for students in our state. It may sound corny, but watching the creative light in the eyes of the students during competition is special. This makes all the … office work worth it.
Q: A decade ago, when robotics teams started assembling here, you were serving as a senior adviser (communications) in former Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration. How did you get involved in STEM?
A: After graduating from the University of Maryland, I was marketing director for a group of radio stations in Washington, D.C. … and later started my own advertising agency, which grew into a sports syndication company — producing radio and television football and basketball games in the late 1970s.
When my company syndicated the first Aloha Bowl in 1982, we added cable to our TV networks as “bonus coverage.” Everything we did in broad- casting was based on new technology.
What is now commonplace — split screens, switching between games, satellite dishes outside production trucks and utilizing more than two camera-shoots — were all being utilized during our TV games.
My company was the first to produce a live basketball game from Japan, featuring UCLA-Temple and bringing it back to our TV stations in the United States. … All of the people who worked with me to develop these “firsts” would surely have been enrolled in STEM programs had they been available to them.
Q: These days, as part of your Friends of Hawaii Robotics work, do you get to tinker with robotics gadgets?
A: (Laughs) I have tried. My dad had to help me build paper airplanes and other models.
I love it (robotics) because individuals from varied backgrounds come together to work and solve problems. … It takes a team effort to succeed. I am so proud of our kids.
