Tiki Technologies

Team 3880

Kulia I Ka Nuu We strive for the summit!

About Our Team:

Aloha! We are Tiki Technologies from the Big Island of Hawaii. As a second year team we have inspired our students, mentors, and community to have a developed appreciation for robotics and STEM education. Through our two years we have participated in VEX, ROV, Botball, and FIRST. We also reach out to over 8 schools on our school k12 level for STEM education. We have started 4 teams just this year for competitions such as VEX and FLL. Our team motto is Kulia I Ka Nuu which is Hawaiian for We strive for the summit! We hope to continue to strive for the summit and share our aloha spirit!

Team Essays:
Below is a team essay specific to our team and the participation in competitions such as FIRST and promoting STEM education.
In the 2012 FIRST Robotics competition (FRC) "Rebound Rumble," FIRST Team 3880, the Kealakehe Tiki Techs, developed rich industrial educational partnerships, platforms for creative technical skills enhancement, & opportunities to deeply enrich our communities' awareness of STEM education. In our second year participating in FRC, we diversified our programmatic goals to establish broader and deeper learning outcomes for students participating in robotics. Our motto, kulia i ka nu'u, "we strive for the summit," implicates continual process reflection and perseverance to be better than no one besides ourselves. The FIRST Chariman's Award piqued our interest as an opportunity to reflect on and showcase the heart and soul of the Tiki Techs. Tiki Technologies began in 2010, on the Big Island. Since our first meeting, each student and mentor commits to our Core Values: 1) Develop rigorous STEM aptitudes for all students. 2) Leverage the diversity of our team to create a premier program that will benefit future generations of students. 3) Maximize the potential of robotics to serve as a positive throttle for a sustainable community. 4) Create life-long learners passionate about solving difficult problems and finding innovative solutions. 5) Avail a safe place for students to explore their dreams and abilities while developing discipline, empathy, communication skills, & responsible risk taking. As rookies during 2011's Logo Motion, we entered FRC as an anxious, inexperience group. We overcame many obstacles. Our team entered our rookie year with no engineering mentors, a $1500 budget, & the back counter of a science lab as our work room. In week four, our team discovered a sizing issue that forced us to rip off 60lbs of material and start fresh, but with no budget or stock. We had our laptop with all of our program files stolen the week before competition. In the pressures of a rookie year, we misunderstood a motor rule requiring us to fully remake two of our three subsystems on the first day of competition. Through hard work and many late nights, we persevered; ensuring every hole, cut, weld, wire, and code line was done by a student and we overcame proving ourselves as the strongest defensive robot in competition. As part of the winning alliance, we secured our place at FIRST Championship. For our unique and efficiently designed robot, our team also received the General Motors Industrial Design Award.

The FIRST Hawaii Regional exposed our team to a higher expectations, ingenuity, and commitment: these galvanized our team launching a high-soaring sophomore expansion. Our performance in the FIRST Championship placed us in the top half of rookie championship teams leaving a deep drive for excellence in our delegation. The championship revealed to us the inherent challenges and level of competition expected out of an Einstein level program. Rather than overwhelming our team, we took the opportunity to learn from more experienced teams through cooperation and observation. This experience provided us a unique opportunity to not only create a robot, but forge a mutually constituted team unified by two words "we goin". This was not our first victory of our rookie season. Our team's first competition was in 2010 MATE ROV where we placed 2nd & had one of the top 10 ranked technical reports in the world. In the fall of 2010, we captained the fifth seeded alliance at the Hawaii VEX Championship winning as the lowest seed ever in the state. This allowed us to attend the VEX Championships in Disney World. Once again, we found ourselves outmatched due to inexperience as a new team. In the spring of 2011, we narrowly missed winning the BIR ROV Competition which would have made us the only team in the world to make it to the VEX, FRC, and MATE World Championships. However, the exposure we gained from the FIRST Championships and the VEX Championships clearly transformed the trajectory of our team and supported district-wide changes in STEM-education approaches. Our dedication to education and outreach piqued the interest of Hawaii Governor Abercrombie who presented us with a proclamation declaring July 4, 2011 as "Kealekehe Robotics Team Day." After thorough reflection as a team on our championship experiences, we transitioned from a seasonal team into a year-long program meeting each week of the summer. We developed 10 SMART goals with three metrics each for the 2011/12 season ranging from diversifying our donor pool to supporting the community that supports us. We also established a new team application process interviewing and reviewing applications from over 90 students. Through this, we also selected high level, committed student leaders who wrote their own job contracts. With this structural make-over, we ended 2011 with more international qualifying wins priming ourselves for FRC in 2012. With our Core Values, Motto, Mantra, and Team SMART Goals, we embolden the purpose of the FIRST core values while personalizing their operationalization to our needs and diversity. Currently, Tiki Technologies consists of 20 student project leaders focused on acquiring knowledge of welding, programming, design, fabrication, safety, technical writing, community outreach, and leadership. To prepare local leaders for 21st century careers, we challenge students to create efficient, innovative solutions to difficult engineering & social problems. We stand out among other highly successful programs because of our emphasis on sustainability, commitment to diversity, and legacy of student opportunity. Fulfilling our stewardship and sustainability goals, we developed the Robotics Expansion Initiative which started four primary school robotics teams and produce over 40 community outreach events this year. Our ethnic diversity (14 heritages), gender equality (13 females, including five project captains), economic diversity (majority of team classified as economically disadvantaged), and learning diversity (several valued teammates serviced through special education) enable us to consistently achieve creative solutions to complex challenges. Securing over $1,500,000 in private scholarships, our graduating seniors translated team success into personal opportunity to attend prestigious universities such as NYU Cornell, & Rice maintaining the program's 100% college rate.

Our team also focuses on creating a supportive, structured environment for innovators. We do this by teaching Stanford Design School (DT) techniques practice which has made us the signature program for DT in Hawaii. Our students serve as DT experts for the islands often times teaching teachers and industry leaders the DT process used by Apple, Google, Facebook, and other disruptive technology pioneers. At Tiki Technologies, thinking outside of the box is the norm because the radical collaboration of a diverse and passionate team always beats the efforts of the lone genius. This process creates a true synergy with our diversity to allow us to find the unique solutions to the problems posed by the robotics and other engineering competitions. For instance, we utilized the process to design a frame small enough to drive beside other robots on the bridge giving us a big advantage for the end game. Our unique partnership with Stanford also allowed us to share our Divergent Thinking games with people from all around the world. Coming from pre-show routines for improv comedians, we hone our mental dexterity by playing and inventing mental responsiveness and quoing tasks. These games serve as the starting point for much of our weekly work with k-8 students and teachers. We have recently expanded this series into a curricular resource for the state. A major value we promote within our team and community is safety. Many teams discuss the promotion of Safety, but we wanted to find a way to take it to the next level. This year all of our students went through the US Department of Labor OSHA General Industry Training successfully earning their entry industry safety certification. Our Underwater ROV team also went through Scuba certification training. During one of our outreach brainstorming sessions, we decided to get industrial safety into the ethos of elementary students. This led to our Keiki Safety Guide which introduces the 20 most common tools of the shop and the five major PPE with clear descriptions and interactive graphics. We've distributed several hundred of these to students and have recently contracted a publishing and binding of the booklet for mass production. Building on these points, we developed a unique, culturally-oriented method of ensuring generational change through FRC: The Kealakehe Robotics Ahupua'a of Giving. The Ahupua'a, a traditional Hawaiian land division, goes from mountain to sea. Through collaboration & stewardship, it supplies all resources needed to develop & sustain a healthy community. Our Ahupua'a addresses our program needs & celebrates our generous partners. We recognize each donor with personalized gifts based upon 10 roles of Hawaiian culture. We have over 300 participants in this program since November allowing us to meet our ambitious annual $250,000 fundraising campaign. FIRST Team 3880 will change the world. Our 2025 Plan includes servicing 25% of all students in our complex, a multimillion dollar education and research facility. In our second year, we are primed to advance to a truly world-class educational opportunity and model within Hawaii.

Kulia I Ka Nuu We strive for the summit!

About us:
Diversity of the team
On our team, we represent over 14 different ethnic backgrounds, with team members speaking up to two different languages including Japanese and Spanish. We have 16 girls and 14 boys on our entire team with four of seven leadership roles filled by ladies. Each person has their own unique capabilities. Depending on their skills and interests; we split them into our four subgroups; Programming, Building, Media, and Documentation.

Engineering
3880B
History: Tiki Techs 3880 B robot qualified at the Maui Fair VEX Regional. As the second seat team, we were alliance captains and won the competition.

3880 B

With this robot we have used design thinking, Autocad design, and more engineering strategies.

Engineering
Designing 3880B

One of the major techniques weve used for designing 3880B is Stanfords Design Thinking. This process was brought to us by Stanford Universitys Design School and we are the trial program in the State of Hawaii for Design Thinking. We really value this program and initiative because it has helped us create unique designs. Its also a major institutionalized process used by companies like Google and Apple on a daily basis. We believe that bringing this technique to STEM education will play a major factor in how competitive we are as a team and program.

Engineering
Designing 3880B
When we first started designing 3880 we thought about: - picking up pieces - defensive tactics (strength) - descoring top pieces Through the Stanford process, you follow the steps:

Empathizing with a user or situation Defining a problem Ideating for solutions Prototyping out of simple materials Testing the prototype to see if its reasonable
For Team 3880 this process is effective and fun! The best part about this part of the engineering process is that we can include students from all interests. In Design Thinking you want diversity of different people that are good at different things. This is great because then we can get our graphics team, programming team, media team, documentation tea, and driving team in with the process!

Engineering
Using Auto Cad

Auto Cad is a 3D program that allows our team to have a visual representation of our robot. It also saves us many hours of time and energy because it shows some future problems that we might encounter while building it. It helps us find ways around it or if the idea would even work at all.

Eco-Tiki
What is the Eco Tiki approach?

The Eco-Tiki is an environmentally friendly program designed to provide easy and convenient use for all groups. Under this program, we have made an electronic binder, easy to wash Jerseys, electronic scouting system, and a light bulb exchange program. The electronic scouting system and binder allow us to save multiple sheets of paper while the Jerseys can be worn many times without having to wash them. This saves water, energy and trees for the environment. Our Light bulb Exchange Program is a system where we give CFL lights for incandescent bulbs. This helps our community save energy and valuable barrels of oil.

We are really excited about this approach because not only will it help us, but it will also help our community and the environment!

Eco-Tiki
Team Jersey

As a part of the eco-Tiki initiative, we have worked hard to create sustainability. One of the best ways that weve done this is through our Tiki Technology team jerseys. They are great tools for competition because we can wear them more then once without having to worry about washing them and can save that energy and invest it into our robot! Who knew that even a robotics team could save energy?

Eco-Tiki
Light Bulb Exchange

The Light Bulb Exchange is a program controlled by Blue Planet; a foundation constantly trying to better the island by reducing oil usage. The basic concept of this program is to give CFL Light Bulbs in exchange for old or new Incandescent lights. Overall, Blue Planet has displaced 190,000 barrels of oil over the lifetime of the 300,000 Light Blubs they exchanged. We are helping raise this number to new heights with our eco-Tiki tactics. We have set the challenge to exchange 1,000 light bulbs by the end of the school year.

Safety Tiki
OSHA Safety Training

Tiki Techs
#3880

Robots Dont Have Brains SO PLEASE use yours.

Safety is a huge priority for our team. So this year we decided to OSHA certify all our team members. Each person on our team uses OSHA inside class and out. The students of our team have classes that involve dangerous or sensitive tools. Our builders are in metals or woodshop classes, which involve heavy-duty tools. They use OSHA Safety in order to use the tools correctly and not damage them. Our media team sometimes helps our builders finish the robots. Thus they use OSHA training to help complete the robots.

Outreach Tiki
Tiki Calendar

For Tiki Tech we value getting in the community and getting them involved. One of the easiest ways weve found to get them involved is through our Tiki Calendar so that they can stay updated. The calendar features pictures with the governor of Hawaii, competitions, alumni, and the team! Robotics is a year round sport at Kealakehe HS and with the help of the calendar we can get the community, parents, and students all ready for competitions and other events.

Outreach Tiki
Evolta The Iron Man Robot

FRC Team 3880 had the chance to work with Roboticist Tomotaka Takahashi, creator of the Evolta Challenge. Tiki Technologies was able to join Mr. Takahashi and his team from Japan in the Evolta Iron Man Challenge, held here in Kona.

Outreach Tiki
Evolta The Iron Man Robot
What is the Evolta Challenge?

The Evolta challenge is a yearly challenge that Tomotaka Takahashi takes on, building robots that has the ability to run on batteries created by Panasonic. This partnership between these two groups began the Evolta challenge. During each challenge, the robot built must complete a challenge, not only proving the power of Panasonic batteries, but also bringing more publicity to Mr. Takahashi. He has also built robots that have climbed the Grand Canyon, to a 24-hour non-stop drive around a NASCAR raceway. The 2011-2012 Evolta Challenge was now a Triathlon, one of the most difficult in the world, the Ironman.

Outreach Tiki
Evolta The Iron Man Robot
What is the Evolta Challenge?

On October 23, 2011, the 2011-2012 Evolta challenge commenced. The Evolta Robot followed the three parts of the race, swimming, bicycling, and running. For the triathlon, Mr. Takahashi built three different Evolta robots, each modified for each leg of the race. The Evolta robot also followed the exact routes of the race, including the distance. The only difference between a regular Ironman Athlete and the Evolta robot is the size comparison. The Evolta robot is 10 times smaller than the regular human, so the length of time is longer; the Evolta team took approximately seven days to complete the triathlon. Over the seven days, the Evolta robot swam, bicycled, and ran the entire Ironman route, facing challenges on the way. Evolta saw a lot of support of our community members and many touring the state. On the seventh day of the challenge, nearly every person on the island was notified about the challenge and giving support

Outreach Tiki
Evolta The Iron Man Robot
to the end of the competition. On the last day of the triathlon, hundreds watched to see the robot make its way to the finish line. People were honking and yelling their supports for evolta, cheering the small bot towards the end. Many people crowded the finish line chanting Evolta! until arriving to the finish. Once the bot completed the strenuous challenge, champagne was shot through the air, celebrating another evolta challenge completed.

Outreach Tiki
Evolta The Iron Man Robot
What is the goal of Evolta?
One goal is to complete competitions, not only to get more publicity, but to prove how innovated people are. Mr. Takahashi wants to show each individual what he does, and that they can too if they strive for it and to never quit. Mr. Takahashi wants to spread the word of robotics and for the future generation to see what they can do in their future. Mr. Takahashi loves seeing our future generations creative minds at work, Evolta is made not for competition, but as an inspiration for robotics.

Safety Tiki
Outreach Safety Booklet

Tiki Techs
#3880

Robots Dont Have Brains SO PLEASE use yours.

Tiki Techs
#3880

Robots Dont Have Brains SO PLEASE use yours.

One of our major outreach projects for this year was the safety booklet. This book is great for people of all ages as it uses unique Tiki Tech copyright graphics to share safety for different tools used in the shop, safety materials such as safety glasses, and helpful uses for tools. We have shared this booklet at events like HI-RES (Hawaii Island Robotics Exploration and Showcase), which reached over 400 people in the community as well as other competitions and events.

Safety Tiki
OSHA Safety Training Explained
Team 3880 takes Better safe than sorry seriously. OSHA training classes enables Tiki Technologies to learn the steps of being safe when working around any dangerous situations tools. or

Better safe than sorry!

What is OSHA?
In 1970, Richard Nixon instituted the Occupational Safety and Health Act, creating the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Since the beginning of OSHA, the mortality rate at work has diminished. The goal of OSHA is having safe working environments and healthy workers come to work and to go home each and every day. This is what FRC team 3880 wants to have as well.

Safety Tiki
OSHA Safety Training Explained
Why is OSHA Safety Training important?
With the founding of OSHA, death and injury tolls drastically fell over the past 32 years. Statistics show in 1970 approximately 14,000 employees were killed in work related accidents, injuries and illnesses from work, by 2009, numbers dropped to 4.340. Injuries fell with the help of OSHA, from 11 per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.6 per 100 workers three years ago. OSHA Training is intended to train employees (Students) and the Employers (Mentors) to be safe in any working environment and to identify hazardous areas, keeping everyone protected and unharmed.

How does FRC team 3880 Utilizes OSHA?

FRC Team 3880 students and mentors would like to have a safe working environment and a better understanding of the tools we use in every robotics session. From the beginning of our school year, our students have started OSHA training classes to utilize safety practices during work time and competition.

Safety Tiki
OSHA Safety Training Explained
OSHA wants citizens to be safe, where ever they may be, so does FRC Team 3880. We intend to make sure everyone on our team knows what is and what is not safe around them. Every session of OSHA training is taken seriously, no matter what division that student may be placed within. During any tournament that Tiki Technologies host, we make sure to create signs notifying people to be safe, especially the students.