Robotics on the Rise

By Jack Kiyonaga | Editor

Buoyed by a new, permanent home, the Molokai High School (MHS) robotics team is ready to compete at the highest levels. 

The robotics team had shuffled around locations in recent years before landing at the Vocational Shop and Agriculture Building, Building H. Last year, the club was located in the cafeteria but suffered break-ins and vandalism of equipment. Now, the club has access to work benches, computer stations, and a permanent practice field for robotics competitions. 

“I think with our new space we can do a lot more now. We can leave equipment out and leave our power tools out,” explained Robotics Coach Edwin Mendija. 

Mendija works in information technology at Kualapuu Elementary School, but volunteers as the MHS Robotics Coach from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. He currently coaches the largest robotics team for MHS yet, with almost 20 members. 

“It’s a lot of self-teaching,” said Mendija. “I try to teach them how to make use of their resources. Google is free, anything you need to know is probably on there…a lot of this is student led.” 

At robotics practice after school, the screeching cacophony of battery-powered robots fills the air. 

The students are practicing for this year’s VEX competition which is a mix of “robot soccer and monkey bars,” according to Mendija. Students break off into teams to design and build their own competition robots. 

“This is my first time doing robotics,” explained 10th grader Francis Bumatay. “Practice makes perfect.” 

Bumatay and his team had tried to make a “speedy and fast” robot before they “moved on to something called a cattle puncher,” which feeds the robot plastic balls via a rubber band mouth intake and then catapults them across the field. 

Teammate William Len-Wai explained that he liked the club because it includes active learning skills. 

“It’s more hands-on. I like to get my hands dirty,” said Len-Wai. 

The team will compete against schools statewide next week in Waianae, but has their sights set on international travel with a planned trip to Japan in January. 

“We’re known as the team that builds with minimal stuff, but I want that to change,” said Mendija. “For us to be at the level we want to be at we have to spend some money and have a facility that allows us to actually build stuff.” 

For Mendija, the robotics team helps to build well-rounded students poised for post-high school life. 

There are “tons of scholarships, [it] helps them get into school, and it looks great on their resumes,” he explained. 

Moreover, it seems like fun. The team of Bumatay, Len-Wai and Phillip Valdez explained that they end up talking about robotics throughout the school day, working through different design ideas and solutions. 

As Valdez explained after watching his robot punch the ball across the field, “this is awesome.” 

Without school funding, the club operates on donations and grants. Molokai residents can support the MHS robotics team by making a donation through the school or by contacting Coach Edwin Mendija at edwin_mendija@molokai.k12.hi.u.