Liholiho Mekanikal Maniaks Robotics Team

Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 - Hawaii State Championship Tournament

2011-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it! Here we are at the Hawaii First LEGO LEAGUE State Championship Tournament at the Neal Blaisdell Center, on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. We're all very excited to be here. More than 200 teams participated in the district qualifying tournaments! As a result, there are 56 teams from across the state here, today. We've met teams from Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island, and of course, Oahu. Teams are made up of students from the age of 9-14. So that explains why there are some really tall kids here.

Our morning was really busy, going to all three interviews - the Robot Design, the Research Presentation, and the Core Value interview. We learned alot about ourselves, and what it takes to work together as a team, and how important that is in order to have team success.

We did well in all areas, and was so thrilled to learn that we were considered for an award for Research Presentation!

When the robot games began, so did the noise It was sure loud as the speakers were trying to excite the crowd, and calling out the team names Once the games started, of course, it got even louder as the cheers for teams began.

Although we did not win an award what we learned about ourselves and about teamwork was much more important We learned what it takes to be the "Gracious Professional". Now that we learned all of this in our head, it's time to practice it in our hearts!

Great job, Mekanikal Maniaks and Lightning Maniaks. We are so, so, so very proud of you!

Thank you to all the parents and families who have supported us through the past 2 months!

See you next year!

Family and friends of the Maniaks came to support our two teams.

Getting ready for the robot game. Make sure you take the time to align your robot.

It's very important to refer back to your checklist, just to make sure everything is ready.

See the concentration. You have to really focus on the mission, and think positive.

Putting on attachments as quickly as you can takes much practice.

Going for the Grocery Mission. Is it going to work???

Alignment looks good. 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . LEGO!

"Go Mekanikal Maniaks, Go Mekanikal Maniaks, Go Mekanikal Maniaks, Go . . .Go . . . Go!

Get the attachment ready, and set the mission, quickly! Good job!

Going fishing. One of our favorite missions.

Just checking the wheels and alignment before the beginning of the mission. Looks good!

Working together takes coordination, so that each person knows his job, and what his partner's responsibility is.

Oh, the suspense of it all. Will it work? Will it succeed?

Hey, which cheer should we do next?

Let's go Maniaks, let's go! Let's go Maniaks, let's go!

Let's do it. Get those fish!

Okay everybody, keep your fingers crossed! Will the robot do it?

Yeah! You can do it! Good try! Keep going! Go Maniaks!

Presenting . . . Team #4003 - The Mekanikal Maniak

And here is Team #11570 - The Lightning Maniaks

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011

2011-11-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

Today, Team #11570, The Mekanikal Maniaks 2 went to the district qualifying tournament at Kalani High School. It was a big tournament, with a total of 20 teams. Our pit tables were in the cafeteria, with the robot matches held in the gym. It was an exciting, fun tournament, and to make it even more special, we had our very own cheering section, led by our siblings and families. We felt really good about our presentations, and really tried our best. During the robot games, we cheered for our team, as well as others. We even got to do our own team cheer in front of the audience with a microphone.

During the awards, we were pleasantly surprised to win the award for "Team Work." Right after that, we were still in shock, as they announced that Team #11570 would also be advancing to the State Championship tournament! Great job, Mekanikal Maniaks! We hope you can come cheer us on on Sat. Dec. 3rd.

P.S We have decided to change our team name for the State Championship Tournament. We voted to call oursevles the "Lightning Maniaks!"

Meet Team #11570 - The Mekanikal Maniaks . . . aka The Lightning Maniaks

View of the robot matches, from the audience's point of view.

Celebrating a great robot match!

Winning the award for Excellent Team Work, and celebrating our advancing to the State Championship Tournament in December.

Getting ready for the start of the robot match, in the gym at Kalani High School.

Click to play a video of the robot game.

Wanna hear the most energetic team share their cheer?

Click to play a close up of the robot match. See the Lightning Maniak run through as many missions as they can.

Hooray for Team # 11570. Go Maniaks!

Here we are, with big smiles to celebrate our award for excellent Team work and for advancing to the State Championship Tournament in a few weeks. Wish us luck!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

2011-11-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

Meet Team #4003. We competed today at the Punahou Tournament. We were so excited and ready to go. Nerves have not gotten the best of us. There are only 5 on our team, but we worked hard. We were all ready for the Food Factor Challenge, and to have some FUN! Our team did very well. We qualified, and were invited to compete in the Hawaii First Lego League State Championship tournament on Saturday, Dec. 3rd at the Blaisdell. Come and support and cheer for us. Good luck Team #4003! Go Maniaks!!!

Flashing the shaka is a good sign!

Ready to begin the fun!

Getting in some last minute practice.

Make sure to aim carefully.

Go Maniaks, Go!

Congratulations, Team #4003, for a job well done!

District Tournament qualifiers. We will proudly represent Liholiho at the Blasidell.

Some time in the morning to practice our research presentation.

The Mekanikal Maniapp . . . an app to test . . .

Go Maniaks!!!

We did it!!! Yay!

Coaches for Team #4003 - tired, but happy and proud

Sat. October 22, 2011

2011-10-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Practice makes perfect! Team #4003 is working toward their goal. Team #4003 was mostly working on their research and their props. Team #11570 is working on both research and their robots. They made only a little bit of success on their robots. The research has improved much more since the beginning.

Team #11570 is still going toward success!

Team #4003 is working on their Maniapp!

On sale from November 5th, at Punahou. It could just save your life.

Robot on the loose! DANGER!!!!

Problem solved!

Here is the Mekanikal Cooler. The cooler is really close to being done

Here We Go Again!!! Sat. October 15, 2011

2011-10-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

This year, the Mekanikal Maniaks have two teams - #4003, participating in the Punahou tournament on Nov. 5th, and #11570, participating in the Kalani High School tournament on Nov. 12th. The theme for this year's competition is "Food Factor." We're hard at work, and want to share with you our weekly progress. We hope you follow along and enjoy our blog.

We made a jig to start the robot in same position every time.

This is one of our research teams working on the Mekanikal Cooler. They're making the props.

Team #11570's robot is going fishing.

Team #4003 is on a rat hunt! Gotta catch those rodents to keep our food clean and safe.

We're "fishing" for our first mission of the game.

Aim carefully . . . and have your partner check to make sure the robot it ready

Here is one of our innovation solutions - The Mekanikal Cooler! It keeps food fresh, better than your regular cooler!

We're doing lots of research online and interviewing experts to help with our research on Food Safety.

This is our other innovative solution, The Mekanikal Maniapp. And you thought the iPhone was good? Wait till you see this!

Here is our "Blog Master" working on the blog to share our progress each week with our viewers.

Field Trip to Waialua High School Robotics

2011-03-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday, February 18, 2011, The Mekanikal Maniaks, Team 4951, visited Waialua High School. We were greeted on campus by the students from the VEX and FRC teams, and taken on a tour of their robotics facilities.

We first visited their industrial education shop, where the parts of the robot were built and put together.

Then, we were taken to the animation room where we watched Waialua's Lifetime of Safety video and the animation video created by the animation/CAD designers.

Next, we visited Waialua's FLL Team 1739's room where we got to see their robot run through the missions.

After that, we went to the VEX room. Their team members demonstrated their robots, and to our surprise, we got to drive the VEX robots. It was fun, and took awhile for us to get the hang of it. For many of us, this was our favorite part of the day.

Last, we visited the testing room where we all got to watch the 2011 FRC robot, Ho'okahi, in action. This was a real treat for us, as their robot was in the final stages, and would be shipped out to New York, for their competition in early March. The theme for their game this year is, "LogoMotion".

To end our day, we were treated to a pizza lunch from Waialua High School's Team 359, The Hawaiian Kids. All of the members of Waialua High School's Robotics team truely displayed Gracious Professionalism, as they treated us with so much respect and kindness. It was also evident in the way that they worked together with each other.

We were all amazed and impressed with what these teams have accomplished. It was just awesome to see what the students are doing at the high school level, and this is something we have to look forward to. It's no wonder that Waialua Robotics brings home so many awards!

Thank you to Waialua Robotics Teams for hosting our visit during a very busy time, just before your upcoming national competitions. We wish you much luck in all of them!

FLL State Championship Tournament Dec, 11, 1020

2011-03-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Mekanikal Maniaks met at the Blaisdell Center on Saturday December 11, 2010 for the First Lego League State Championship Tournament.

First, we went to the Robot Design interview, and introduced ourselves with our team cheer. We showed the judges our best program which was the Mechanical Arm. We also presented the program for the syringe and the Patient Area. We all felt overjoyed from doing our best, but at the same time, we were relieved the pressure vanished.

After, we went into the Project Presentation interview. Again, we introduced ourselves with the team cheer, and started our skit. We were so nervous, but in the end, we were relieved once again.

We couldn't relax just yet. The robot games had just begun. It was very loud in the arena because all the parents were screaming for the teams. In round 1, our robot, The Mekanikal Warrior, didn't run so well. He scored 95 points. It was very frustrating, but we kept persevering. In round 2, we improved with a score of 135 points! Round 3 was our last chance to score high, and we felt so nervous, some of us were starting to feel sick! Still, the last round was our best score yet! We had gotten 220 points, better than 95 and 135.

We practiced hard between rounds. We were ranked 12 among the 56 teams for the robot game. In the end, our robot was nominated for the QUALITY DESIGN by the judges, and The Mekanikal Warrior ranked somewhere in the top 10 of 56 other robots! Team 4951, The Mekanikal Maniaks, was judged EXCELLENT by the Teamwork Judges, and again ranked in the top 10 of 56 teams. In addition, our team was judged GOOD by the Project Judges.

Although we did not take home any awards in the end, what we discovered about ourselves and our team is more important than what we could ever win! AWESOME JOB, to the Mekanikal Maniaks of

Liholiho Elementary School.

2010-12-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

working on the patient area program

   downloading the revised program

working on bionic eyes with our mentor

doing the patent area mission

doing the blog

New Robot !

our mentor from Punahou is back!

Saturday, November, 20th, 2010-Tournament day!!!

2010-11-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our robot does a mission during a practice round.

Morgan and Jordan prepare to get the syringe.

Natalie and Shaylee attempt the Bionic Eyes.

The Mekanikal Maniaks

Hooray!!! We won a Robot Design Award.

Today was the day of the tournament. We scored well and had fun in all three areas. Here are our scores for the robot games-First round we scored 175 points, Second round we scored 75 points, and the third round we scored 25 points. We also won a robot design award. The Mekanikal Maniaks made it to the state tournament. We are happy that we made it to the point we are at right now. This is the first time the Mekanikal Maniaks have made it to state finals. GO MEKANIKAL MANIAKS!!!

Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010

2010-11-07T23:34:00.000-08:00

Isaac is working with the second robot.

Jordan finds time for a little fun with the Bionic Eyes.

Serious programming as Kade and Natalie try again.

Practicing for our research presentation

Someone . . . quick . . . get help for Kai-Yu!

Morgan visits the doctor.

Presenting . . . The Mekanikal Maniaks

Our team photo

Saturday, October 23, 2010 and Tuesday, October 26, 2010

2010-10-26T01:59:00.000-07:00

Two people working on the blog.

Explaining about how Miss Traci
knew she had diabetes.

We are setting up our robot.

Our robot is doing a mission.

Research group working on the script.

This is the new jig we made.

We were working on making the costumes for our presentation.

We were working on a robot using big wheels.

Hooray! Our robot completed a mission.

We are lining up the robot using the jig.

This is a picture of one of the robots that was designed

We are doing our team cheer. Go robots!

Today, we made up a cheer to support our robot team in the games. We are also still working on using two robots, and are currently trying out a new robot with a ball caster. The research group worked on a script for our presentation. They are also designing the costumes. Good job today, Mekanikal Maniaks!

10-19-10

2010-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Working on designs and the costumes and the script.

Testing out the program for the robot.

This is our robot we are going to use.

Learning how to program the robot.

10-16-10 6th Saturday

2010-10-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

cre

Adjusting the trapper attachment

Programing the robot

Tightening the trapper attachment

Still programing the same robot for the first mission.

Looking for markers.

Glueing the tittles on the borders.

Making the band -aid for the box

Glueing crazy glueing

Making the main Band-aid

The amazing Dia-Aid box.

Working on two band-aids for the presentation.

Aligning the whole robot with the jig.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

2010-10-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

The research crew continued their work. We decided on a name for our bandaid, the DiaAid. This is short for Diabetic Bandaid. Our robot builders have two similar robots - one has big wheels, and the other has smaller wheels. We're trying to see which one is better. We also decided on a design for our team shirt. Thank you to Mrs. Imanaka who has been working on this.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

2010-10-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

Morgan & his Grandpa are working on a robot design.

Kai-Yu, Sesilia, & Karen are working on the layout for their board.

Tiare improves her jig to help the robot go straight.

10/2/10 Fourth Saturday

2010-10-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Mrs. McKnight is fixing the computer .

Tia & Jordan are building a robot.

Shaylee & Kade are programming a robot to go in a square.

Mr. Hutchison was being all teachery & calling us monkeys.

The programming team created a robot that still needs to a better program. The research team is looking up current treatments for diabetic ulcers. They learned that ulcers are caused by poor circulation. The building team was trying to make a box that can push and capture game pieces.

9-28-10 The Third Tuesday

2010-09-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Our research team found out that the problem we are addressing is that there are lot of people with diabetic ulcers. Our solution is a bandaid with an extra cellular matrix on it. This matrix will help heal the diabetic ulcers faster. The programming team is creating a program to do the first mission. The building team is working on attachments connected to a third motor. We worked hard today, but still have a lot to do.

9-24-10 Third Saturday

2010-09-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today we started too work on another robot. Jason also taught Kai Yu, Natalie, and Jordan to work together to program a robot to do a challenge. Our research team found out that 1.2 to 3 in every thousand people have diabetes and that you can use our extracellular matrix band aid to help diabetic ulcers.

Field Trip to Tissue Genesis

2010-09-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

Us in front of Tissue Genesis

Anthony showing us the tools that he uses

Renia Silvester showing us lab equipment

Renia showing us liquid nitrogen tanks

Getting ready to go into the lab

Mr. Paek explaining about the Extracellular Matrix

Josh showing us how to get stem cells from human fat

Josh showing us Strobe light

9/14/10 1st Tuesday

2010-09-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Jason and team picture

Mr Brad explaining treatment for leukemia

Mr Wong answering questions about stemcells

9-18-2010 second Saturday meeting

2010-09-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Discussing the missions with Megan.

Megan answering questions

Jason teaching how to do programming

Megan teaching what you should do when you build

Discussion with Megan on which mission is hard

Megan asking what mission do you think is easy

2010-09-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

Dr. Alan Oki giving presentation.

Mr. Aaron Ohta talking about electro engineering.

Brainstorming health problems and possible solutions.

Mekanikal Maniaks

2010-09-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader,
   Welcome to Liholiho's Mekanikal Maniaks Robotics page! On this page, we will show and update our process throughout the First Lego League season. Our page will primarily focus on the development of our project, robot, and team. We hope you enjoy it!!

   Sincerely,
   The Liholiho Mekanikal Maniaks