VARSITY BOT-BALL

April 16, 2008
By Brandon Bosworth

Robots invaded UH's Stan Sheriff Center for three days recently. It was basically a peaceful invasion as the robots, under the control of their human overlords, came in the spirit of peaceful competition. No weapons were used, just big inflatable balls. It was all part of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition March 27-29. Young people and their mentors built robots using a set of standard kit parts according to certain guidelines. The robots then are entered into competition, the exact nature of which changes annually. This is where the big inflatable balls come in. The bots had to race about the course, knocking the giant balls off elevated shelves, and then moving the balls around the track, passing them either over or under an obstacle. It's not an easy game to explain to someone who has never seen it, but then again, what sport is? The best way to describe it is to say it resembles a live-action version of Pong from the Atari 2600 era. The robots themselves looked like mobile versions of something you may see on an automotive assembly line. The teams were comprised of high school students. There were 37 teams competing in the regional competition, the first ever held in Hawaii. Twenty-five of the teams were local. The fact that Hawaii has 25 robotics teams is impressive, considering it's the same number of teams as in the technological mecca of Washington state and five times the number of teams in Great Britain. The other 12 teams were from the Mainland. In his closing remarks, Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona described the FIRST games as "the varsity sport of the mind." The analogy is apt. The atmosphere was that of a sporting event, belying the serious science at the root of the contest. Despite the technogeek nature of what was going on, there was nary a pocket protector in sight. Instead, there were painted faces, wigs, dyed hair, capes and costumes. One exuberant young man in the audience was wearing a tiger costume that had seen better days, causing him to resemble a hungover Tigger. Another less conspicuous fellow tried in vain to get "the wave" started - by himself - while sitting. There were at least 1,000 people in attendance at any given time, and often great cheers would erupt from the stands. At times it was not always clear exactly what they were cheering for. The scoring system used to determine the winner of the various robot battles was a bit confusing, and one wonders how many in the audience really understood what was going on. Perhaps they cheered so much and so often to cover their bases. Much like a traditional sporting event, spurts of actual play were interrupted by lengthy lulls in the action. A DJ helped keep energy levels up by playing a crowd-pleasing mix of music from techno to classic rock to whatever genre The Macarena belongs to. Yet unlike many regular sporting events, there was no alcohol involved, so there were no drunken brawls. That's good, but it would have been interesting to see an angry, inebriated fan rush from the stands and pick a fight with a robot. The organizers seem to have taken this possibility into account, as there was a young, buff police officer chewing gum and leaning authoritatively in a doorway, wearing dark sunglasses to protect his sensitive eyes from whatever sunlight may have penetrated the roof of the indoor arena. Perhaps the sport most comparable to FIRST would be a G-rated monster truck rally, but without the wanton destruction and tobacco sponsorships. Of course, FIRST is far more wholesome and positive, as can be seen by the awards given out. In this ill-mannered, dogeat-dog world, it is refreshing to have a "Johnson & Johnson Award for Gracious Professionalism." Sure, it sounds like something a stingy CEO would give his personal assistant in place of a raise, but it is still good to see an award given to recognize "playing fairly and honorable sportsman-ship." (That award, incidentally, went to the McKinley High School team.) Hawaii did fairly well in the various award categories, of which there were about 21. Waialua won two: the Regional Chairman's Award and an Entrepreneurship Award. The teams from Waiakea, Sacred Hearts, Kamehameha and Honokaa also received awards. Three local teams who competed at the Hawaii Regionals - Radford, Honokaa, and Waialua - will be moving on to the National Championships in Atlanta April 17-19. FIRST was founded by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen. While not a household name, Kamen is perhaps best known as the man who brought the world the much-hyped, much-mocked, scooter-like Segway, which for a short time provided comic fodder for assorted late-night talk show hosts. On a more serious note, he invented a revolutionary portable dialysis machine and has made great strides in mobility devices for the disabled. A bit of an eccentric (as befitting a man whose father was a famous comic book artist), Kamen lives akin to a James Bond villain who never went bad. Westwind, his 32,000-plus-square-foot home in New Hampshire, is shaped like a huge hexagon and features many different levels as well as secret passages, an observation tower, and a 25-ton steam engine once owned by Henry Ford. And, of course, there are helicopters. Kamen started FIRST in 1989 in hopes of changing the way young people looked at math and science. As he told Wired, "Our culture celebrates one thing: sports heroes." So he started a competition to bring some of the coolness of sports to pursuits such as engineering and invention. He reiterated his thoughts on the matter during his closing remarks on the final day of the Hawaii Regional Competition March 29. After a set by taiko drummers from the Pacific Buddhist Academy, Kamen spoke with a hint of frustration about America's "narrow focus of achievement" which looks only at athletes and movie stars. Noting how our politicians seem to pay inordinate attention to sports, he observed, "The president even throws out the first ball at the start of baseball season." If it were up to him, Dean Kamen would surely want the president to roll out one of the big inflatable balls at the start of FIRST, too.