Members of the University of Hawaiʻi at M膩noa recently visited Normal Robotics Lab, an innovative technology startup based in Kailua.

For 东精影业 M膩noa students engaged in energy and sustainability research, the visit provided a firsthand look at how local startups are addressing global challenges through innovation rooted in Hawaiʻi. Normal Robotics Lab offers internship and job opportunities to students, with the goal of keeping talented graduates in the islands while contributing to renewable energy and sustainable design.

“Tours like this are so valuable because they connect students with innovative local companies and job opportunities, highlighting Hawaiʻi鈥檚 potential to be self-sustaining,” said Miles Topping, director of sustainability at the 东精影业 Office of Sustainability.

Normal Robotics Lab develops energy-efficient, modular heat pump .

During the visit, students and faculty heard directly from co-founder Ashten Akemoto, who shared the lab鈥檚 journey from passion project to growing startup. What began as a side project when its founders converted a 1968 Volkswagen bus into an electric vehicle sparked a larger mission: to create sustainable technology that blends hardware innovation with climate-conscious design.

“The tour was very interesting and informative,” said student Kiet Nguyen, “The thing that stood out to me the most about the heat pumps was how simple they were to have working but also how complex they could get.”

In early 2025, the provided more than 1,000 students across the state with an opportunity to showcase their technical skills and a chance to advance to the World Championships in Dallas, Texas. The championships are managed by the (HSGC) in the University of Hawaiʻi at 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 (HIGP) and supported by funding through .

A total of 111 teams competed in the VEX V5 Robotics Competition and the VEX IQ Robotics Competition Regional Championships, representing public and private schools on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island and in Maui County, as well as club organizations and home teams.

VEX Robotics is an educational robotics program that inspires students to excel in STEM principles while encouraging creativity, teamwork, leadership and problem solving among groups.

“Robotics competitions foster these skills and prepare students to become future innovators and global problem-solvers, as well as increase their interest in pursuing STEM careers,” said Adria Fung, HSGC robotics education specialist.

VEX V5 Robotics Competition Championships

The VEX V5 Robotics Competition Championships featured high school and middle school teams at the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard in Kapolei on January 25 and 26. This year鈥檚 challenge, High Stakes, was a fast-paced game that pits alliances of two teams against another alliance, and requires robots to score rings on stakes, place mobile goals and climb at the end of the match. Robots have a period of autonomous play followed by driver-controlled play.

Advancing to the World Championships were N膩n膩kuli High and Intermediate, Mililani Mechs Robotics, Waialua High and Intermediate and Wai膩kea Intermediate.

VEX IQ Robotics Competition Championships

The VEX IQ Robotics Competition Championships featured elementary and middle school teams at Pearl City High School on February 15 and 16. This year鈥檚 challenge, Rapid Relay, was a teamwork challenge game that required two teams to pass balls between robots, score balls through targets and clear switches. A new student role to this year鈥檚 game, the loader, gives students an opportunity to introduce balls directly onto the field, allowing for human-robot interaction.

Advancing to the World Championships were M膩noa Elementary School, Haleiwa Elementary School, Island Robotics and St. Louis School.

Due to double qualifications by teams in both competitions, the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation will select additional Hawaiʻi teams to advance to the national competition.

About Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium

HSGC offers remote and in-person training sessions and workshops for coaches, teachers and students, a robotics curriculum for STEM/robotics classes, and mentors teachers and students in robotics programs. HSGC and HIGP work to inspire and prepare students to enter STEM degree pathways and careers to promote public understanding of NASA鈥檚 goals and missions. HSGC and HIGP are housed in 东精影业 惭腻苍辞补鈥檚 .

A dedicated group of students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo has completed a year-long project to upgrade the software on a planetary rover. The rover, named Helelani, will be used for testing by space agencies around the world.

Helelani weighs 700 pounds and is equipped with a variety of instruments and imaging systems. It can be controlled remotely and is designed to navigate the rugged terrain on Hawaiʻi Island, which is similar to the landscapes on the Moon and Mars.

东精影业 Hilo students AJ Garcia, Daniel Malone, Jaden Matsunaka and Richard Sevao served as interns at the campus鈥� (PISCES). PISCES is a program that focuses on research and education related to Earth and space exploration.

Under the guidance of Christian Andersen, PISCES research director, the students updated the rover鈥檚 software code. They also received support from H. Keith Edwards, a computer science professor who mentored the students in a two-semester software engineering class.

“This is a good type of project for software engineering classes since students are forced to work with someone else鈥檚 code and understand how it works, which is quite similar to what happens in their first software development job,” said Edwards.

Hands-on Learning

Undergraduates at 东精影业 Hilo use the rover for hands-on experience in robotics, engineering and programming. Each year, a group of Edwards鈥� students work on the rover鈥檚 hardware and software systems as part of an internship program.

According to Edwards, the project gave students the opportunity to learn about the structure of the code that runs Helelani and understand how it works.

“They were also able to update the operating system for the mission control station and were able to get the code base to work with the new operating system,” said Edwards.

Next: Fine-tuning a 360-degree camera

The students also experimented with implementing a new 360-degree camera into the rover. The work will continue with a new group of students this coming school year.

–By Susan Enright

Hawaiʻi Island students had an out-of-this world STEM experience at the and 9th Annual Hawaiʻi Island Robotics Expo and Showcase (HI-RES) at Kealakehe High School on November 3.

AstroDay was sponsored by the and coordinated by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa鈥檚 in partnership with Kealakehe High School. The STEM event gathered astronomers, engineers and educators statewide that gave the public an opportunity to learn about black holes, comets, the solar system and beyond with more than 60 interactive science activities and demos. The public also cheered on their favorite robotics teams.

“We have held AstroDays in Hilo since 2002,” said AstroDay organizer Carolyn Kaichi, “but we鈥檝e only recently formed partnerships that makes it possible [to] bring our event to the west side of the island. It’s great to have the support of the business and education communities here!”

Observatories from Maunakea were also joined by two Maui facilities—the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and the Las Cumbres Observatory based at Haleakal膩.

“We鈥檙e also part of Hawaiʻi鈥檚 astronomy community and AstroDays are a fun way to interact with lots of people of all ages and support STEM in the islands,” said Tishanna Ben, DKIST education and outreach coordinator.

The robotics competition featured more than 200 elementary and middle school students who formed 25 teams to showcase their projects. From the 25 teams, 10 teams were then selected to compete in the Robotic Challenge.

The winning team, Kahakai Aliʻi ʻElua, will have two team members鈥� airfares sponsored by Maunakea Observatories as they move forward to compete in the state championships in December. Another Kahakai Aliʻi team, the Parker School Bionic Bulls and the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will also be joining them at states. Their alternate is the Waimea Middle School Paniolo team.

“The Big Island is such a huge place for astronomy and combining robotics is an awesome chance for kids to get both in one place and really understand how they connect in the grand scheme of things,” said Nathan Weir, Kealakehe High STEM Academy volunteer.

To provide students with hands-on experience in computer programming and robotics work, (PISCES)—a state-funded aerospace agency—and has launched a new credit-based internship program. The program will develop Hawaiʻi’s skilled labor workforce by offering college students high-tech learning opportunities while earning classroom credit.

Two Hawaiʻi CC students will participate in the new program during the fall 2017 semester, earning hour-for-hour classroom credit towards their degrees. Andrew Hasegawa and Jack Andersen, both majors, will design and develop an autonomous navigation system for the PISCES planetary rover Helelani, enabling the 700-pound robot to drive itself. The students will also develop a delivery system for an unmanned aerial vehicle to mitigate little fire ant populations in tree canopies—a PISCES project in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab.

Although classroom learning is invaluable for foundational knowledge, it can at times be lacking in more realistic problem-solving scenarios. This internship provides me with hands-on situations that I’m sure will serve me well in my overall education and future employment opportunities.
—Andrew Hasegawa

Both students are already familiar with the Helelani rover’s configuration since developing the robot’s software and hardware systems during PISCES’ 10-week internship program this summer.

“Although classroom learning is invaluable for foundational knowledge, it can at times be lacking in more realistic problem-solving scenarios,” said Hasegawa. “This internship provides me with hands-on situations that I’m sure will serve me well in my overall education and future employment opportunities.”

PISCES and Hawaiʻi CC intend to make the credit-based internship an ongoing program to provide unique learning opportunities for Hawaiʻi college students outside of the classroom.

“I am very happy to be working closely with Hawaiʻi Community College to provide students the opportunity to practice and improve the skills they learn in the classroom,” said PISCES Program Manager Rodrigo Romo. “At PISCES we are committed to providing Hawaiʻi’s youth with as many tools and opportunities as possible to meet the demands of the growing high tech industry in the Islands.”

“Hawaiʻi Community College believes that preparing our students for the jobs of the 21st century goes beyond our classrooms,” said Hawaiʻi CC Chancellor .聽“Along with industry partners like PISCES, we can provide academic rigor in internship-based courses and programs. I am amazed with students’ testimony about their place-based learning experiences and their enthusiasm in applying their skills to the real world.”

—By Thatcher Moats

A robotics team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo won second place in the Virtual Challenge category of this year’s NASA Swarmathon, held April 18–20 at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Students Will Barden and Alec Goodson, led by lab coordinator , competed among 15 national teams in the .

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The Swarmathon Challenge tasked competing students with developing a search and retrieval algorithm for virtual robots to develop real-world strategies for identifying and collecting resources found on places like the Moon and Mars. The team claimed victory by rewriting the Swarmathon code with instructions that gave their bots an efficient edge in seeking out virtual resources.

Barden set up the hardware system for the program by installing the necessary software to compete and Goodson rewrote the programming code.

The 东精影业 Hilo trio took home a $1,000 cash prize, which Roberts says will go toward new computer hardware and robotics equipment.

Videos of 东精影业 Hilo team’s virtual competition

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—By Susan Enright