Sunday, April 30, 2006 - AstroDay Info Packets

My wife Chizuko and her friend Yumi Tomono diligently worked on folding five hundred commemorative AstroDay tee shirts a couple of days ago, and last night Chizuko and I started bagging them into informational packets for all of our exhibitors at AstroDay. Luckily our system has been streamlined over the years, so that we can knock them out in a couple of hours. This morning, I went into the office to create the AstroDay brochures and information sheet, so that we can include them into the packets for distribution next week. We can hand-deliver about 25 of the exhibitor packets during the week, and thereby easing some of the logistics during the morning of the event. The information sheet will contain details on how and where to redeem tickets for their staff's lunches. The packed shirts will allow them to distribute them to their staff to wear during the event ahead of time. The enclosed event brochure contains a schedule of events and a venue map for their convenience. In past years, the tee shirts have always been a factor that had backed us up until the last minute - not that this was due to our supplier Creative Arts Hawaii. This has not been the case, as Randy Kurohara of Creative Arts has always been able to turn around our order in a couple of days. We were always on hold to wait for some folks to submit their tee shirt sizes, and this year we decided to impose a strict deadline for the submittal making our work this year much easier. This year, I am really working on being able to stand back and enjoy at least some of the event (even if it kills me).

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - Busy Week

Whew! Its been a busy week in astronomy outreach on the Big Island. Our office facilitated a tour of Mauna Kea Observatories for a group of Native Americans from Saskatchewan, Canada. The group were guests of Na Pua No`eau and were escorted on the mountain by our friendly UH88 Telescope Operator Dan Birchall. Today, we promoted the Hilo Youth Robotics summer program at the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay over breakfast, followed by participating in a high-tech visioning meeting to identify and map the various robotics enrichment programs in our community. After lunch it was off to the Prince Kuhio Plaza to scout the mall for locations for all of our exhibitors and vendors before heading into the management office for a meeting with General Manager Kimberly and her assistant Donala. We talked logistics and tried to firm up our strategies for the big event. I think the meeting was very productive and was instrumental in solidifying the partnership between the AstroDay Institute and the Prince Kuhio Plaza and General Growth Properties. Whenever there is a change of management, there are some questions on the new policies and how they may affect our working relationships. After today's meeting, I am happy to say that I am fully confident that we have the support of our new management staff and that they are doing everything to ensure the success of AstroDay 2K6. Our Fifth Annual AstroDay Festival will surely be an event to remember and not something you will want to miss. The countdown has started ...

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Na Pua No`eau Super High Day

a Pua No`eau Hawaiian gifted and talented agency held its Super High Day at the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus and Imiloa Astronomy Center. The program is a part of the Ho`omau Project that targets at-risk Native Hawaiian students in the hopes of helping them enter into the university system and increase their chance of earning a college degree. Super High Day consists of several strands that deal with sustainable agriculture, marine mammals and coastal ecosystems and conservation of Hawaii's ecosystems. Today at the Imiloa Astronomy Center, the cultural astronomy strand entitled Na Kilo Hoku - star gazer, or one who watches the stars featured presentations by IfA astronomer Paul Coleman and Hokulea navigator and Hokualakai captain Kalepa Baybayan and John Hamilton, UH Hilo professor of astronomy. The theme of the day, and the common thread throughout all of the presentations was to show potential careers for these Native Hawaiian students and the educational path they must take to attain them. Paul talked about the future of astronomy in Hawaii, with a possible role for his audience in the field of study, or in support of astronomy. Kalepa told many olelo about voyaging, Eddie Aikau, and life's lessons and how to apply them in a positive manner. All certainly good messages and worthy of heeding regardless of age.

Saturday, April 22, 2006 - BIRR Tournament in Kona

My son Kaipo took a trip over to the Kona side to support and videotape our East Hawaii school underwater robotics teams from Hilo Intermediate and Nawahi. The tournament was held at the Kona Community Pool beginning at 9:00 am and ran through to about 2:30, when the award ceremonies took place. Every team that participated earned some kind of award for their efforts leading up to, and at the competition. It was interesting to see the different strategies employed to complete the mission goals, which simulated real-world situations related to oceanic research. There were a number of teams from around Hawaii Island, including Kealakehe Intermediate and High Schools, Konawaena High School, Nawahiokalani`opu`u School, West Hawaii Explorations Academy Middle and High Schools, Parker School and Hilo Intermediate School. I am really glad to see that the number of robotics programs are increasing in schools, but somewhat discouraged that no reporters covered the event from the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, our East Hawaii newspaper. Maybe if we market the competitions as a sporting event, we could get some ink in the paper. Well, robotics is sports - sports for the brain, and we will continue to endorse it as such.

Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Lyrid Meteors, ROV contest

The Lyrid meteor showers are occurring this week and will peak in activity this Saturday, April 22 producing rates between 10 to 15 meteors per hour. Look for them in the constellation Lyra after midnight, from a dark location before moonrise at 2:30. The actual peak will occur just before dawn, when Earth is expected to pass through the thickest portion of the meteoritic stream created by Comet Thatcher. Carolyn Kaichi of the Bishop Museum has more to say in her Skywatch Article. Meanwhile, Big Island teams are refining their underwater Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) for a competition this Saturday at the Kona Aquatic Center. Many schools will be fielding teams, including Waiakea High, Hilo Intermediate, and Nawahiokalaniopuu Hawaiian Charter. We've seen some of their creations built of PVC tubing, and will feature some of them at AstroDay - but for now we want to extend the best of luck to all of the teams in this weekend's competition!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 - Robbie's Bad Knee

Our Robonova-1 robot Robbie was completed Sunday, and taken home that night to begin recharging his batteries and to install RoboBASIC software onto a laptop for programming him. When we plugged the serial communications cable into the download port on the controller card and started up the RoboBASIC program, Robbie's left knee servo began to smoke. Not a little, but a lot and I shut down the software and turned the power off on the controller card. The servo was hot to the touch and I waited a while for it to cool off before checking my circuits and connections and ensuring freedome of motion in all joints. No problem ... So, I rebooted the computer, started up RoboBASIC and powered up the robot and proceeded to zero out the servos. Well, everything seemed in order with the exception that the smoking servo would not respond and none of the bundled robot action Basic programs actually initiated any type of movement beyond initializing Robbie into a starting position. Totally bummed and have sent an email requesting assistance to the dealer and manufacturer to help us find a resolution to the problem. Stay tuned for the adventures of Robbie the Robonova-1 (with a bum knee).

Sunday, April 16, 2006 - Robonova!

Today, I woke up at 4:40 and found myself in my office with an unopened Robonova-1 box from Hi-Tech. The contents of which comprise the parts of a robo-one class bipedal, humanistic robot. The build went fairly well, but with a few setbacks due to the ambiguity of the instruction manual. Although well illustrated and defined with good detail, the manual lacked some important component and assembly orientation labels. I ran into situations where I needed to make some assumptions that ultimately were incorrect and required disassembly of portions of the build (aaarrrggh). Add to the frustrations of the manual, the fact that I was constructing the kit with some Radio Shack precision screwdrivers. Well, the driver heads on #0 and #1 phillips were worn away after assembling the legs - I had to make a trip back home to get my craftsman precision set which finished the job with neither sore fingers or stripped screw heads. The right quality tools make all the difference when working on anything, and today's experience just reinforced that notion. Well, I finished the hardware build in about eight hours, including tidying up the cable runs with clear cable clamps that were supplied with the kit. I am wrapping up the day with a full charge of Robonova's batteries and an installation of the RoboBASIC programming environment onto my Windows (ugh) laptop. I hope to have some primitive movements and sequences completed soon.

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - Back on the Road

After two wonderful nights at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, we'll make one more trek to the pool and Super Slide before heading out on the road to finish our AstroDay Around-the-Island promotional tour delivering informational packets to the five schools and dozen or so community centers around the southern portion of the Big Island. Okay, so I didn't lose the ten pounds I used to in the past during these physically grueling excursions, but I attribute that to the help of my capable assistant Deanna Marshall who has taken responsibility for the Hilo-Laupahoehoe-Waiakea school complex this year. The road back to Hilo will begin as we head south from Keauhou toward Kealakekua, then Milolii around Kalae (South Point), then back up to Naalehu, and a brief stop off at Punalu`u to see if we can spot any green sea turtles basking in the sun on the beach. Then its up through Volcano and down past Mountain View, Kea`au into Hilo (where Robonova awaits patiently unassembled in my office). Making the Around-the-Island promotional tour counter-clockwise from Hilo has allowed us to make personal contact with several teachers and administrators - the Good Friday holiday provided an opportunity to enjoy a brief respite in Keauhou. Now, I have designs of trying to fit both an Easter Egg hunt AND Robonova build on Sunday (did anyone say Turbo-egg scavenging?) ...

Friday, April 14, 2006 - Around-the-Island Tour, cont

Day two of the AstroDay Around-the-Island promotional tour has my family awakening in our accommodations at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort. Kaipo and I celebrated a successful day yesterday by sloshing down the water slide into the pool a couple hundred times (seemingly). We followed that up by a soothing soak with Chizu in a boiling jacuzzi. Did I mention that I found heaven at that time? 120 miles and 30 schools and community groups melted away in the bubbling waters, and provided one of the most restful sleep in memory. I was pleased with the response from Principals, Vice-Principals and teachers toward the AstroDay and Hilo Youth Robotics flyers. We try to give personal attention to our dedicated educators and administration when it comes to information distribution - I believe making the human contact is much more effective than a fax, email, or even a phone call. We want to communicate the passion and commitment we have for bringing these programs to the community. We also took this opportunity to extend congratulations for each schools' accomplishments in academic and robotic realm - I know how important it is to be acknowledged, and a pat on the back can feel really good. We will visit Nancy Tashima and her friendly staff at the Onizuka Space Center today, and a few other locations before making a bee-line for the beach or pool. Anyone for a trip down the water slide? Whooosh!

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Around-the-Island Tour

Another year has passed by, and our family is setting out for our Fifth Annual AstroDay Around-the-Island promotional tour of the Big Island over the next couple of days. This tradition has us motoring around to every public, private and charter school and community youth organizations in order to hand-deliver informational packets about the AstroDay Festival (and, serendipitously the Hilo Youth Robotics summer enrichment program). We hope to make a personal connection with teachers and administrators about the our world-class event, and the science education that the IfA SEPO provides to the community. It's certainly a help to have my son Kaipo assist us in the distribution of our propaganda, but we are also very grateful to have the assistance of the AstroDay institute's Program Development Specialist Deanna Marshall to offload a good portion of our deliveries in the Hilo and Puna area. Today, I received a real nice care package from Software Bisque. I met Thomas Bisque at AlCon 2002 in Salt Lake City, and was just blown away by his product line: Paramount ME mount, TheSky software, CCD Soft. I must say that Thomas and the Software Bisque has always supported AstroDay through product donations, and this year is no different. I am happy to say that we have a number of products that we will use for prizes for the winners of our inaugural Student Science Project award (that will reward the best astronomical or space science related science project in high school and middle school). The other donations will be for the most inventive or creative astronomy exhibit or demonstration, and outstanding observer award for the AstroDay Star Party after dark. Through the creation of these unique awards, I am sure that we will be able to reward the efforts of some exceptional people in our community with swag that they can make good use of - something that I am sure Thomas would appreciate. Mahalo Thomas and your great company Software Bisque for your support of AstroDay and we hope to see you in Hawaii next year (hint, hint)!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - AstroDay Support, Robonova

We're running around trying to run three separate programs that are somewhat overlapping, so it is not without expectation that I find myself unaware of whether I am coming or going - today is no different. Actually, today we have a classroom presentation in Haili Christian School on careers for fifth and sixth graders. Afterward, we followed up on AstroDay sponsorships and prize donations. This year, we have had a groundswell of support from a number of small local businesses and large corporations. The backs of our commemorative tee shirts will certainly be full of many names - all of whom are "Stars of our show". Back in the office, work starts on a storyboard for our Living in Paradise commercial for the Hilo Youth Robotics program. We have gotten a couple of youngsters involved in robotics to be our "actors" in a short promotional segment that will air on our public cable access channel (to air during the month of May). All of this while a Robonova box sits under my desk in my office. We took delivery of the new HiTech Robonova-1 humanoid robot in the mail yesterday, and after a quick perusal of the product, wrapped it back up and stored it under my desk and out of sight. But the box beckons silently, pulling me toward it relentlessly. But I resist, rationalizing that I don't have the multiple hours of build time to properly construct it before our departure on our family AstroDay Around-the-Island promotional tour. Again it draws me toward it, as I admire the understated packaging and compact size... must ... continue work ... can't let it detract from my mission ... Arrrrgh!

Monday, April 10, 2006 - Program Development Assistant

What a great asset our AstroDay Program Development Specialist Deanna Marshall has been to the Hilo Youth Robotics project. We brought her onboard officially last week (although we have been strategizing informally over several weeks) to help us develop the program and promote it to public, private, charter and homeschools and community youth groups. A transplant from the Maryland area, Deanna brings a lot of experience in special events, particularly in robotics through festivals and other showcases of the burgeoning technology. Her wealth of knowledge and experience in the Robot Fighting League has sparked more than an idle interest in developing something here in this Botball junkie. But first things first, as we need to get Hilo Youth Robotics off the ground for this inaugural year. I just dropped off some informational packets to Deanna for distribution to a number of schools and community centers, and she has taken the initiative to post flyers and contact individuals and organizations. Deanna has also recruited a friend and avid combat robot builder to display and demonstrate some of his robots at our AstroDay Festival and the summer workshop. Our Hilo Youth Robotics program is shaping up to be THE summer enrichment camp to be in this year, and I have no doubt for years to come. We are very lucky to have Deanna on our team to help build a solid relationship with teachers and schools around Hawaii Island to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through robotics.

Friday, April 7, 2006 - AstroDay Info-packet Preparations

TGIF - boy is it great to be a Friday, but as far as Fridays go, it was a looong one. Much of the day was filled with preparing for AstroDay info-packet distribution: printing of flyers, dressing up manila envelopes and stuffing them with the flyers and a cover letter before addressing them with school names. Since we will be distributing information about the Hilo Youth Robotics program to elementary and middle schools, we are including those flyers in the packets as well. There's an inside joke at IfA that printers perish when AstroDay comes around - propagated by an IT staff member who shall remain nameless...Nathan! Today was also the deadline to submit matching funds substantiating documents to the Hawaii County Office of Research and Development for our Industry and Technology Development grant. I had to back-shelf this task because of other duties that needed attention for a number of days (was it really a month?) before I discovered that our award letter was dated March 7th! Yikes! Thank goodness I noticed that today, because next week would have been too late. Its really necessary to take care of details as expeditiously as possible, but this time I had let it slide. You can bet that won't happen again! Meanwhile, people have been calling in regard to our robotics program and we should be ready to take placements next week. Meanwhile, our Robonova robotics kit has not yet arrived in the mail...maybe tomorrow...

Thursday, April 6, 2006 - Haleakala Amateurs Join AstroDay

A lot has been going on with planning the fifth Annual AstroDay Festival. We are pleased to announce that the Haleakala Amateur Astronomers will be attending the AstroDay event in providing stargazing sessions at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station (along with the West Hawaii Astronomy Club members). Rob Ratkowski, Robert Zaleski and Casey Fukuda will be coming over for the weekend and staying courtesy of Linda Nako and the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. They will be bringing some of their toys along with them to help facilitate the OWL program. The Haleakala Amateur Astronomers have helped the UH Institute for Astronomy Outreach on Maui, at AstroTalk public lectures and at the highly successful Deep Impact Outreach program on that island. It'll be good to see them on our island, and we look forward to working together again.

Monday, April 3, 2006 - Robots, Robots, Robots!

Can you tell what's on my mind lately? Today, I had a discussion with Darryl Watanabe, IRTF Electronics Technician regarding the possibility of upgrading our Mars Exploration Rover robot that we've been using at previous AstroDay events. The idea is to improve the robot with a new camera and/or drive system. The discussion also touched upon our Hilo Youth Robotics summer enrichment program that the AstroDay Institute will sponsor along with Connections Public Charter School and the Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute of upstate New York. I was hoping to get Darryl to profile one of the IRTF decommissioned instruments at the workshop. Today was also a day that I was able to contact some local teachers for recruitment into the Hilo Youth Robotics program for training and professional development. We have one teacher that has expressed interest in the program - its just a matter of convincing him that his school could really use a First Lego League (FLL) team to complement their Botball team as a feeder into it, rather than having two Botball teams without enough experienced students to field both. We also have a couple of other teachers that we hope may be interested in being a part of our team. The purpose is to build a base of knowledge among these core teachers from their professional development so that they will have confidence in bringing the robotics to their schools as an after-school program that can develop into FLL teams. Then, we can establish enough teams on the Big Island to have our own tournament on-island that can encourage more participation (versus the teams having to travel to Oahu to compete in the sanctioned regional competitions). The opportunity to interact with other teams is very important part of the robotics in my opinion, and the competition also gives them a purpose for their activities and a goal to strive toward. Other than getting teachers, my next move is to recruit a robotics program assistant...

Sunday, April 2, 2006 - Living Local Shoot

Clear, bright skies greeted Gloria Baraquio and her video crew at the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo this morning. We are shooting for Gloria's "Living Local" segment on OC16 cable access channel on Oahu. The segment will feature Koa Ell, Peter Giles - Director of the Imiloa Astronomy Center and me. Koa will talk about cultural astronomy and her outreach work in my office, while I'll speak about the observatories on Mauna Kea and the astronomical research being done there, while Peter would talk about his state-of-the-art science center. Kaipo joined me on this day, and he didn't hesitate to engage himself in the exhibits and theaters within the science center. I am glad that he is independent enough to seek his own entertainment, but sometimes it is difficult to keep up with him and to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble - but I guess that is a bit much to ask of a rambunctious little boy who is after all, my son...sigh.