 Oh, it's the one o'clock block. Woo, science. Think tech, tech talks. Art Kimura, Green Kimura, they're into robotics. We're going to find out exactly how they got there. Because Art was teaching in McKinley in biology. And Green was teaching in the education program at Honhawanchee down the block. And they've been married for 250 years. Exactly. Got that right? I don't do math very well, but seems right. And they retired. And they came together in this fabulous retirement program called VEX Robotics in Hawaii. So that's what you're doing these days together. What a great thing. And I was saying before the show, you guys definitely appear to be enjoying it. You are a happy guy. We're very fortunate because we get to work with some amazing partners in our schools, students and teachers. We're very grateful for the opportunity. So what is VEX? VEX Robotics is a world global program consisting of three different levels as we're sharing with you. From primary grades all the way to the university. And it's one of the fastest-growing programs in the world right now, over 26,000 teams and 52 teams. Teams, 26,000 teams and 52 teams. Everywhere. It is. So we like the global aspect of it, to have our kids not compete just locally, but nationally and internationally. So it's competition, but it's also providing them with the equipment they can use to refine their skills and effectively compete. And so one side to be the computer skills, the programming, and the other side to be the actual robots that respond to the computer instructions. That's pretty sophisticated stuff. And I would bet you can bet against me if you want. I would bet that Robotics now is much more sophisticated than it was in the day it first became a national application. He came and we talked about him and Segway. He segged from his own Segway into Robotics. He was out here a few times. And VEX has a history with him. And now both organizations, Cayman's organization and VEX, they're both in this field. So it appears to me, actually, that ART has 20 slides. Am I right about that? There were more. There were more, OK, good. Yes, yes. So is it OK if ART starts going through those slides right now? He absolutely should, because we've selected them and we should cover them briefly. We know who's in charge here. OK, all right. Let's do the slides. OK. You've got 10 minutes. So we both work for the Hawaii Space Grant Consortium University of Hawaii. And primarily our focus is on workforce development in the area of STEM in particular. We are NASA funded. And part of our, I think, programs now has taken a large measure of our work now is Scholastic Robotics. We first got involved 21 years ago with Robotics, and we're still continuing to support it. And so the next slide. So our beginnings with Robotics actually traces all the way back to the Space Shuttle Challenger and the explosion when Challenger exploded with a teacher on board and a deli in Onizuka on board. Yeah, the Boy Scouts have a festival. We're involved with that. Yeah. Oh, are you really? Sure, Robotics at the, what do you call it, that particular? Well, the STEM workshop at the Onizuka Boy Scout meeting every year, yeah, in the spring. In April, I think. April 27. Oh yeah, coming up soon. Yeah, we're going to be there with a camera. We're going to find you. We're going to find you in the workshop. So why Challenger? It's because it gave me a relationship with NASA. Following that, and if you can bring up the next slide, the beginnings of First Robotics and then VEX Robotics in Hawaii actually can go back one slide, was actually related to, I'm sorry, go ahead, next slide. I'm sorry, let me talk a little bit about this. In October, I was involved in a PBS special, the Future of Work. And primarily, it looked at all machines, artificial intelligence, robotics, is affecting the jobs and the workplace and how it's replacing a number of jobs at 10.20. Next slide. That was when they had the 40 people in the big room. That's right. Leslie Wilcox runs around and everybody gets a chance. Exactly. That's a good program. And I remember that, the future of work. That's not an easy question either. It was a difficult time because the hotel workers weren't in strike, and I think hotel workers realized that a lot of their jobs would be replaced in the future. All goes through diversification, the key word. Absolutely. And in the second part of our show, we're going to talk about that in some detail. OK, keep going. Next slide. Sorry. This is when you're supposed to kick him in, go to the next slide. He's not responding. So as educators, this is our question. How do we train students for jobs in a future that has not been created? It's really difficult for us as educators and parents to think about what jobs will be like 15, 20 years from now when our children will be out in the future. I mean, in Hawaii. In Hawaii. Our workforce in Hawaii. We're talking about right here. Exactly. Our beginnings is 1999. By a chance meeting in Hilo, I met a NASA engineer, Mark Leal, who had been in Hilo to represent NASA in the building of the future at the Emilo Astronomy Center. He offered us two scholarships in the first robotics which eventually went to McKinley High School and Wailoa High School, two of the most famous programs in Hawaii and nationally. And that was our beginning. And along the way, we brought in VEX about 15 years ago as a training program for fall program that children could learn in the fall. And then first, what happened in the spring. Eventually, the two firsts and VEX had a divorce nationally. And because of that. That was Cayman. Well, that's a great story. I mean, they split and so VEX became its own entity and first continued. So VEX in Hawaii has grown enormously. There's four different programs right now. One for elementary children called VEX IQ from grades four to eight. There's a program called VEX VRC or some people call EDR in grades, it goes from grades six to 12. And there's a college level program. The programs are at different levels. I mean, you get more sophisticated the equipment, the programming, the robots, I guess. And the kids stay, they stay in one program. You know, you want them to keep the program, keep going, right? We would like, yes. We would like them to maybe start with IQ. Maybe that is a great third grader after a couple of years of that as they become a sixth grader perhaps transferred to the next program and stay with that program. The beauty of, I think robotics not only VEX but the other programs they all have gained challenges that changes every year. So it's like a sports game, but every year there's new rules, there's a new game. So they have to re-engineer, redesign, re-code the robot to play that particular game. You don't want them to get stale. Exactly. You want them to go and move ahead and move towards sophisticated. And we have seen the games have become way more sophisticated as the children have become much more adaptive in building, designing, and coding. The robots have become so much more sophisticated than what we ever imagined. But what are the kids get out of it? I mean, when you talk to them and you try to incentivize them to actually get involved, what do you say and how do they respond? Well, the first thing I think for me in being passionate about this program is to have kids get accustomed to these opportunities that are offered to them because robotics is often very new for them and for coaches. But the skills are enormous. The kids decide to learn either designing, problem-solving, working together, collaborating with others, time management. It's a team play. All these competitions are a team play. Yes, they are. And the skills that they naturally develop as a team that wants to be successful will propel them into their future college and career. So we believe that it's more than robotics. Is this better than social media? Absolutely. Do you want me to go there? Actually, I think the collaboration, the give and take, even amongst teams who are competing is so rich with dialogue and problem-solving and sharing that I think the students are way ahead of the game if they participate in these competitions. And it's better than gaming? Absolutely. I have grandchildren. They can be taken by that sometimes. It's hard to set limits because even we as grandparents don't know yet the profound effects yet of isolating oneself to the computer. I like the social aspect of the robotics team. See how rich they are in sharing their experience. Also, the administrator feedback we get focus more on the soft skills and the hard work. They talk about the teamwork, the problem-solving, the communication. Time management is a big one. And also, the whole idea of playing with integrity. We don't want to turn it into sports that we have either or whatever. So we want to keep that integrity going. You know what they say about real estate? No. Real estate is not about land, it's about relationship. You know what they say about technology? Same thing. Absolutely. Well, really the relationships that students and coaches and the communities there are really making an impact on a child's self-perception. The opportunities they have offered to them for the youth. Okay, you got to continue your slides now. Sure, let's go. We only have a few minutes left. Okay, next. So these are just some examples you can spin through the next one, just examples of what these things look like. They really like sports-like games and a sports-like view. And I think that's why robotics has grown so much in the last 20 years. They've taken the two things that society honors the most, which is would be sports and entertainment. And by combining that with elastic robotics, it's really grown in the next slide. So we talked about some of this already. Why robotics? It's about trying to incorporate these skill sets so that students can find passion in their life and find something of interest. Interesting thing, the complaint I get from teachers all the time is the students don't want to go home, which is a great thing. That's an okay complaint. Next slide, please. Thank you. Absolutely. So robotics, in my mind, is a sport in which 100% of the participants can become pros. I mean, that's what I do. The potential is there. Pros. Pros. What is it? Pros and robotics engineering. They could become an engineer. Co-engineers make money. Yeah. They're all a real robot. And not only in the STEM area, by participating in robotics, they learn those soft fields that are applicable to no matter what they're doing, like that. True. Next slide. Okay. So, interestingly enough, we have been invited to put on a VEX Robotics Challenge at the ESPN Honolulu Sports Festival in June. And this is the first time we've ever been invited to do this at a real sporting event. So we're looking forward to this opportunity. Already been contacted by a team in Russia, a team in Colorado that's interested in coming to this talk. That's a great fund. Do I win something? Do I win money? Oh, the interesting thing is we're not offering. We're not offering any prizes or any qualifying slots for this. It's just come and play with us at this really unique venue. You know the Russians. Thank you. They're crying. Next slide, Pete. So, recently we went to Japan because part of what I'm personally interested in is building, using robotics as a bridge between us and other countries. Right now, we help start a new program in Japan called a Japan Cup. We took four teams there. And the whole environment was more about creating relationships, friendships, collaboration, then competition. And I think the Japanese appreciated the fact that we took four of our pretty high-end robots for them to compete with. Next slide. So, this example of collaboration. That was my age to me. This was in Shibuya. In Shibuya. In a business center. What a tremendous experience for kids. It was so wonderful. And our students spread so much aloha there, sharing their expertise. Really. And for most of them, this was their first trip to Japan, I guess. Yes, they and their parents. So, they're already looking forward to next year. Next slide. So, we have two what they call signature events taking place in Hawaii this year. One called the Mark Leon Invitational at St. Louis School this July. And one called the Pan-Pacific Tech Championship. We have to apply for this designation. And because of the approval, we have received world slots, world qualifying slots from this tournament for the 2020 World Championship, which is pretty significant for Hawaii. Where is the 2020 World Championship? In Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville, Kentucky. There'll be probably 15,000 people gathered there for the championship from 50 countries. That's Mitch McConnell in Louisville. Oh. I'm sorry I mentioned that. It's been there for a few years. Oh, okay. Yes. Center of the country, so to say. Center of the Southeast. Oh. So, are you finished with the slides? Okay, now I have to ask me an old question. How much of what art said do you agree with? Well, we had a discussion this morning about my preference for his not using the word sport. Or competition. But I do believe we've said often time that that's what people know, that's what draws them in. I like to think that it's an educational endeavor. But with the motivation to be ready to compete, you need that. Competition for education. Absolutely. Yes, yes. So our measure of success is not that you qualify for state or world championship. It's really the measure is from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And that's really what we're hearing. Absolutely. And when we come back from this break, Art and Rean, we're going to talk about why the community should care about this. That's Art and Rean Kimura with VEX Robotics Hawaii to be right back after this break. Hey, aloha, standing energy man here on Think Tech Hawaii where community matters. This is the place to come to think about all things energy. We talk about energy for the grid, energy for vehicles, energy and transportation, energy and maritime, energy and aviation. We have all kinds of things on our show, but we always focus on hydrogen here in Hawaii. This is my favorite thing. That's what I like to do. But we talk about things that make a difference here in Hawaii, things that should be a big changer for Hawaii. And we hope that you'll join us every Friday at noon on Stand the Energy Man and take a look with us at new technologies and new thoughts on how we can get clean and green in Hawaii. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Yukari Kunisue, the host of Konnichiwa Hawaii, Japanese talk show on Think Tech Hawaii. Konnichiwa Hawaii is all Japanese broadcast show and is streamed live on Think Tech at 2 p.m. every other Monday. Thank you so much for watching our show. We look forward to seeing you then. I'm Yukari Kunisue. Mahalo. Okay, courtesy Les Tamiyama, who's the back there in the gallery, the stand. And we have Art, so he set this up, Art Kimura, Rin Kimura of Vex Robotics of Hawaii, very important program. And a lot of kids are involved. And you guys are going like great guns. You know, you have so much going on, such excitement, such passion, such attention for these kids. It's really wonderful to see what you do. And I think it's because you want to excite them. You like the idea of exciting kids about stuff, right? And what it is, is seeing them learn and seeing them realize their potential and becoming confident, you know? Because if kids are confident, they can do anything. And they learn better when they're confident. Really about exposing them to the opportunity. Not all children will gravitate toward robotics or even computer programming, but we need to expose them all so that they can make it easier. OK, so here's the thing. Hawaii, even under John Burns, wanted to diversify the economy. And every governor since then has made noises about how we're going to diversify the economy. And people came off the plantations, you know, and especially the Big Island, you know, they folded up all those hikua plantations up there and everything. They needed jobs. And the government made little wee sounds about developing companies. Technology really has its work. And, you know, we had a 10-year period in the odd years, I call them, of the 21st century where we were going to do entrepreneurship and investment in technology companies. Really didn't work politically. And so here we are with robotics. As you guys have said, robotics can teach a kid how to be a real operator in technology, how to get a job in technology, how to make high-tech things. We can't even imagine all the things that robotics teach kids, you know, to do in their later years as they expand their own, you know, appreciation and acumen at the time. So my question is, how do we keep them here? How do we make those, it's not an easy question. We reserve 10 minutes for it, but it requires 10 hours. How do we keep them here? How do we make sure that, you know, they realize their potential? How do we make sure there are companies and entrepreneurs and investors who will actually give them those jobs to give them the platform they need and the equipment and the additional training, whatever it is, actually make us a diversified economy with technology at the core of it? I don't think there are any simple answers as you say. No, no, no. And I think part of what, in robotics, what I appreciate and enjoy about it, the fact that in vex robotics, you are constrained to using only the parts that they provide to you. And yet you can come up with some amazing innovations just using the parts. So at the event, you'll see 30 different designs made from the same set apart. You know, it's creating this idea of innovation is important in children, that there's no one set way you can solve the problem, that there are multiple pathways. Also, we need to look at robotics a much more wide view rather than just for the educational part of it. It impacts on tourism in a way we bring in teams from overseas. We have probably 20 teams coming from China this year alone to our events. We have teams traveling in our island, teams traveling to the mainland, to the Far East. So there's a large travel part of this program. And of course, I think we need to invest more long term than just overnight profit. We need to invest 10 years, 15 years down the road so that we can nurture this kind of innovation into a real product that can sustain our product. Okay, forgive me because you guys are in one end of it. I'm asking you about the other end of it, but you say invest, what do you mean invest? How much money and where do I invest the money and who invest the money and how does that help? Well, I think we've had, I think all of us have had experiences with different companies and so forth. When we went to Japan, we had the opportunity of visiting a very high tech company. We had 300 engineers there, all dreaming about projects that the company would do 15 years from now. Professional engineers, who are employed as engineers. In a thing, in one company, in one company. They're putting money not for immediate overnight profit, but they're putting money for five years, 10 years down the road and not all products will work, but if they can hit a home run with a few of them, obviously it's gonna make big money. It's like all startups, you have to fail a few times first. Yeah, so I think our mentality has to change a little bit that we cannot just immediately find the answer overnight, but investing in these children today perhaps can lead to finding that gem among these children. Don't you agree that two are run parallel tracks? In other words, while I'm training these kids, educating these kids, I'm emulating them to be creative and keep up with modern technology, be world-class in terms of their appreciation of what technology is doing and can do. This is not easy, but this is the key. Okay, that's one track. The other track is making this community fully aware of the potential, making this community fully supportive of these kids that they don't run away from it. So they stay here, they make a living, we have a tech industry. I think that's what ultimately, otherwise put off to the mainland, right? Or they forget about what you taught them. Ooh, so how do we do that? Well, I think first of all, parents have to believe in the potential of their child's future. And go beyond what they know, go into the unknown. Imagine with your child. So it's not a matter of saying to Tom, Tommy, go into your room or go to the competition. It's a matter of understanding exactly what Tommy is doing, right? Exactly. And being right there with him. Knowing how he's spending his time, what he's doing, how he's programming, even helping him. It's like the parent who stands over the kid who's trying to learn math and he shows him, or biology, maybe, and he shows him how it works. And the opposite also works because children are so adept at learning new things. If parents are willing to be taught by their children, if parents listen to their child with the new innovation that they encountered or an idea they have to adapt that to something else. I think this is a new way of parenting. Absolutely, mid-back high school. I guess it was the Weinberg Trust gave them all, gave them enough money to buy just a few years ago, to buy iPads. So they went out and bought iPads. And now the kids had to learn iPads and the teachers didn't know anything about iPads. So you found that the kids knew a lot intuitively. They were teaching the teachers and then the teachers would teach the kids. So it's an interactive experience. It's interactive. It's a partnership. Yes, and I think it's acknowledging the genius in every child so I wish for every child to be able to think from preschool all through a doctorate degree. And we have to promote that as adults, as parents, as teachers. Now you're not part of the curriculum. You're after school, you're extracurricular. Well, we are also promoting robotics in the curriculum because them, mandate, benchmark, engineering benchmarks are now on the table. And teachers are having to figure out what does that mean in my teaching? What do I have to offer in my classroom? You help them with that? Well, whenever they ask us to, we have a ton of ideas how to do that. And I think it's very important that we all be totally open-minded and imagineers. Sure, and you've got to get into the schools, into the process and the schools. Some schools already are offering robotics units in one particular grade level. That means every child in the grade level when they go through that grade gets an introduction. I think that's one way of servicing every child. How about the equipment? The equipment that they use with VEC costs money. Who funds that? Is it parents? Are there organizations, nonprofits, government that actually help kids with that? We've been very, very fortunate. Initially, NASA gave us money annually. They would give us a grant. But more recently, we've had very generous donors from Hawaiian Electric Companies, for example, with a 30-meter telescope on a big island. Most recently, the Department of Labor Industrial Relations to represent Mark Nakashima provided us with workforce development money that provided us really a big input. And about 12 years ago, at the time, Senator E. Gay and other senators were able to get an infusion of money to help startup equipment. I think one of the reasons why. It's fair to say that every kid in VEC who wants to be in VECs, who wants to have equipment can get it. It's affordable. It's affordable. It's affordable. And it's like there's no barrier. He can always find a way to get that equipment. Our biggest barrier, frankly, has been trying to find a hero at the school that's willing to spend a lot of extra time after school, non-paid on the weekends. Learning this themselves. He's a teacher. Yes. Learning this themselves when they know nothing. You have to get volunteers for that. Correct. But then you will train him. They do step forward. And the robotics community is very supportive of one another. They will offer their help. Okay, here's what I learned. Here's how I got started. So it happened. The challenge is less than 5% of children in Hawaii that access to participation. And so... What limits them? It's primarily the fact that a school can find a teacher willing to spend that extra time. And I don't blame them. The school paid that teacher. Well, we've even had people in the square building gave some money, or DOE gave some money for that teacher to be a paid volunteer. We have had opportunities like that. There are some after school programs so the teachers do get paid. But in general, it's still finding that teacher who has, you know, willing to learn something new primarily. I don't blame them. It's a risk. It's a big risk for them. He can look silly, wouldn't he? It's so fun. Oh yeah, I agree. Because I started computers when there were only three of us in elementary schools offering computer education way back when we started with Apple shoes. And I had to learn with the students. I had to learn with the students. So you guys are both techies, aren't you? No, we're not. We're absolutely not. But it's like opening up a toy box. Now, in a perfect world, OK, I mean, I share with you the dream that Hawaii would have a tech industry. It would be around robotics. And robotics has got to be, if not, you know, the end product, at least a spawning field for creative thinking and tech thinking. Making science happen. But what do we need to get there from the powers that be? If you were, if I made you Governor Art, OK, you could be Lieutenant Governor. Just to get my permission, I don't know. I understand. What would you do if I made you the legislature? You can be the Senate. You can be the House. What would you do to create an environment, a platform where vex and robotics would take hold? Would be the center of an industry that makes money, that makes jobs, that allows people to have a good life? I would replicate what Japan does. They have an agency called the Japan Science Technology Agency that sits parallel in the government to their Ministry of Education. This Japan Science Technology Agency funds science museums. They fund research. They fund these special programs related to STEM. So keeping it out of the Department of Education mainstream and yet enriching what students are having the opportunity to learn. We have to have some kind of coordination statewide. Right now, we're all volunteers. And the danger of this is eventually many of us will leave because of age or whatever. All the relationships will be taken with us. And that's, I think, the biggest fear I have. To make it sustainable, make it continue. Exactly. That's beautiful. Robotics is about a $2 million industry right now in Hawaii. It's elastic. When you count up all the numbers of cost of equipment and so on. Somebody should start a company that makes robotics big. You know, something unique to Hawaii where we could demonstrate the skill that our students have. We already have some former robotic students who are now mentors and teachers and coaches who were that minded when they went up. They're brewing out there. Yeah. You guys going to do this forever? Of course. Passion never dies. It's great what you do. It's such a community service that is a larger sense. You don't even know how much of a community service it is because as it goes forward, you know, it extends further and wider and deeper. And you will see, I hope, you will all see the product of your efforts going forward. We have seen it already. We've already seen many, many students in robotics who have stellar lives. Oh, wow. And they're paying it forward. I want to be one of your students. Arty Moura. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having us. What fun we have. What fun you guys have. We do have. We do have fun. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you.