Pu’u Whiz Kid Takes Top Honor At Robotics Competition

A Pu’u Middle School student has won the prestigious HELLP Robotics competition, beating out hundreds of other students from across Hawaii. 11-year-old Rachel Driscol, a 6th grader at Pu’u, took the top honor Sunday, making her the youngest winner in the history of the competition. This year, the robots had to autonomously navigate a simulated office building, that had been damaged by a hurricane, marking the location of injured people, and delivering medical supplies to trapped survivors. Rachel’s creation was able to find all the injured, and completed the task in less than 5 minutes, almost half the time it took the next closest competitor.

Founded by Eric Oeming, the Hawaiian Engineering Lifelong Learning Program (HELLP), is entering its 10th year. Designed to teach kids the importance of technology and science with the assistance of adult mentors, HELLP holds many competitions throughout the year. However, the robotics competition is considered to be the most distinguished, drawing hundreds of competitors, with dozens of business and technology leaders attending the 2 day event. HELLP says that they have awarded millions in scholarships, and connected thousands of talented students with valuable contacts and mentors across the islands.

Rachel’s win wasn’t the first for a Pu’u student, but it does end a 3 year drought for the Blue Wolves. Pu’u Principal Pa’ani Mahelona says everyone is excited about the outcome, but not surprised. “Rachel is one of the brightest young minds I have ever encountered in my time as an educator. Her talents are limitless, and everyone just assumed that she’d win. Nonetheless, we had no idea she’d win so easily. Rachel certainly represents the best of Lahaina. We couldn’t be happier for her, and her family. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank her parents for deciding to move to Maui. It has been a joy to watch this young lady grow over the past few years, and I look forward to seeing what she accomplishes in the future.”

“I actually had a big head start in this year’s competition,” says Rachel. “A couple years ago, I had built a robot that could bring my dad his beer, and help him find his phone and sandals with a specialized sonar system. This year’s goals weren’t much different from that.” According to Rachel, she’s always been interested in science and technology, and wants to work in Veilcorp’s Research and Development Division, or Vereserum’s Advanced Medicine Lab here in Lahaina one day.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved building things and figuring out ways to do things that nobody else has tried. My grandmother was a professional dancer, and she always tried to pay for ballet and gymnastics classes when I was little, but it just wasn’t for me. I appreciate the physical mastery it takes to be a great dancer, but my feet aren’t wired for grace. A good technical schematic, or an unsolved problem makes me want to dance just as much as any music I’ve ever heard.”

Rachel says that she is too young to make any big decisions about her future, despite the offers that have been coming in since she won the competition. She says she wants to develop her sonar system further, and hopes to make it available to the visually impaired in a few years.

“It must be something in the island air. Her brothers and sisters sure aren’t breaking any records, and their grades aren’t anything to brag about, but they were born on the mainland.” says Rachel’s father John. He credits his hands-off parenting style with allowing his daughter to reach her full potential, but says that having a genius daughter isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.

“I see so many parents pushing their kids, demanding they operate at peak performance, and giving them grief about their grades all the time. It never made sense to me. Being a parent is hard enough already: always bringing them places, signing permission slips, and making them food when their hungry, which is always. Why would anyone in their right mind add worrying about school work, and their potential to the long list of parenting responsibilities? I stopped being able to help Rachel with her homework 3-years-ago, and it seems like the more I separated myself from that part of her life, the more she achieved. It may not be a popular thing to say, but keeping your kids at arms-length can be a great tool to teach them how to build their own future. I don’t know if I can express how proud I was of her when she built the robot that would bring me my shoes, and find my keys. Most parents of kids her age had to settle for cheap arts and crafts projects, or illegible hand-scribbled cards. My 3rd grader made me a robot butler. I’m sure that whatever it was she built for this competition was amazing, and the scholarship money will help, but you can’t put a price on something like a robot that brings you beer.”