VEX team members competed in two VEX Robotics Competitions (VRCs) during the summer. The team includes senior Kristen Kate Tumacder, juniors Aimee Pak, Malia Libby and Michaela Graves, and sophomores Sydney Chock and Taryn Wong.

Adviser Peter Park said, “Lancer Robotics VEX teams had a productive summer, participating first in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard’s inaugural VEX RIMPAC Competition. In the RIMPAC game on July 5, students trained and coached sailors from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to drive their completion robots. Our girls worked with two sailors from USS Peleliu, and they won  2nd place with teammates Kalani Robotics.  It was a special occasion for the girls to get to know the sailors, who encouraged them to pursue interest in STEM fields.”

The Instagram link below shows the robot in action during the first 15-second autonomous phase. The team was happy when the code they wrote successfully executed its goal and consistently earned bonus points. http://instagram.com/p/qF2km2mrtN/

Team members competed in the VEX International Summer Games at the Hawaii Convention Center on July 11 and 12. The Summer Games featured teams from Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, Lebanon, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland.  Eighth grader Ashley Pak also joined the team,participating in the Toss-Up Division with Chock and Wong.

Park said, “In order to enter the Skyrise Division, the event required us to have also participated in last year’s Toss-Up game.  We had our Toss-Up bot dismantled in April; thus the ‘Trouble Maker’ bot was put together in haste the day before!  VEX rookies Pak, Chock and Wong jumped into the game and they had a lot of fun!”

Wong said, “I thought driving the robot and being able to partly control the outcome of the match by participating was really fun; however, I didn’t like that the robot malfunctioned so much. We will work on the robot a lot for the next competitions, then win.”

Academy Hawaiian Chant and Dance teacher, Jordan Asing, did the opening chant on July 11. The team also saw last year’s captain, recent graduate Angela Wong, who worked with Friends of Hawaii Robotics in hosting the successful event.

The team was soon in competition again once the school year began. Members competed in the McKinley Vexhibition on Aug. 16, where they won 5th place with teammates Kalani Robotics and several students from China.

Two high school VEX teams will compete in three more competitions, on Sept. 20 at the McKinley Vexposition Games, on Oct. 17-18 for the VEX West Oahu at UH West Oahu and on Oct. 31 – Nov. 1 for the VEX Central Oahu Mililani.