Supporting robotics; investing in future engineers
by Michelle Orian-Lau | Feb. 22, 2025
For nearly 20 years, our company has supported robotics programs such as FIRST Robotics, FIRST Lego League, Botball and VEX robotics competitions knowing that the investment in these STEM programs would help Hawaiʻi develop future leaders and innovators. If any of those students went on to join our Hawaiian Electric ‘ohana — even better.
Power Supply Engineering Designer II Jacob Decker grew up interested in robots — whether they were Transformers in the CGI-packed blockbusters, mecha from the Japanese Gundam anime franchise or tech from the Halo gaming franchise. “I thought robots were cool. No disrespect to Lego, but I thought the metal robots were cooler. When I heard the about VEX, I wanted to join,” he said.
Jacob first joined a robotics team in the seventh grade at ‘Ewa Makai Middle School. During his sophomore year, he joined the Campbell High School Sabertron team, which primarily consisted of his friend group. Although some have moved to the mainland, he still maintains friendships with many of his teammates, including Telecom Engineer Roel Transfiguracion.
Roel was sidelined from competitive swimming after a car accident in high school. So when Jacob and other friends decided to check out a robotics meeting during their sophomore year, he decided to go along.
As friends will do, they nominated Jacob as their robot driver during one of the team meetings that he missed. Piloting the robot put him front and center during competitions, which he admits was a little bit of pressure at the beginning. But he soon found his groove. The team’s distinctive robot design also helped.
“Our design was super unknown. I’d only driven it twice beforehand. No one really knew what we were getting into,” said Jacob. At the time, the flywheel was a popular design. And the competition’s theme was “Nothing but net,” where robots had to shoot balls into nets with points earned based on difficulty level.
“We got to see the other robots and saw we had a unique design. A lot of other schools stopped by to see our robot. It helped our confidence. And we scored pretty well. We took a team picture to help solidify the memory,” said Jacob.
Their robot was inspired by a crossbow without the bow. Instead, it had a retracting rod tied to a ton of rubber bands. “I believe the idea started from a joke. We knew we had to shoot the balls. What better way to shoot than to make it into a gun. That’s how the design started, but we had no idea how to make a gun without an explosive,” said Jacob.
Their advisor guided them on how they could shave off part of their plastic gear. After the rod was retracted by a set distance, the gear would slip causing the rod to be pulled forward by the rubber bands and punch the ball forward. “This design would consistently launch the ball forward.”
“Children’s robotics programs are important for Hawaiian Electric to support because we are raising our children to be interested and passionate about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Senior Community Affairs Consultant Sam Nichols, who has helped our company organize volunteers for robotics programs since 2006. “Robotics is not all about coding and STEM. The teams learn the soft skills that are important to our company, our ‘ohana. They practice teamwork, public speaking, how to communicate with consideration and kindness, how to strategize as a cohesive team, how to get past setbacks and persevere and how to have fun during all the hard work.”
With robotics part of his past, Jacob has now kept it as part of his life at Hawaiian Electric by volunteering with our company at the First Lego League State Championship. Being a volunteer gave him a completely different perspective from his time as a competitor. “The middle school and some elementary school teams had very intricate designs. Their robots were more advanced than the ones we had. Even the high schools, their robots are more compact. They have a lot of stuff packed in there.”
Once he was injury-free, Roel had returned to swimming in high school and still works as a part-time swim instructor today. But he still makes time to visit Campbell each week as a volunteer coach for their esports teams. Both teams reached the playoffs last year, and hope to replicate that next season. While visiting campus, Roel’s been glad to see the robotics team thriving.
In different ways, robotics helped shape their future career paths. During his freshman and sophomore years, Jacob planned to pursue computer science. “I took a coding class in high school and realized I didn’t have the patience to troubleshoot code. That solidified when I took a coding class in college,” he said. “The ideas of robotics and tinkering led me down the engineering path.”
For Roel, he always knew he wanted to go into science and tech. “I really like figuring out how things work,” he said. “I like playing around with it, hopefully without breaking it. That’s why I chose engineering. It’s the field that you see new tech being used. Where you can be one of the first to implement it. That crossbow design, that was one of those things. There are other ways to go about things — optimizing conventional ways.”
But he credits robotics and his dad for helping prepare him for the hands-on work of engineering. Roel’s dad Urwin retired from Power Supply in 2024.
After graduating from Campbell, Jacob and Roel both enrolled in the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s College of Engineering. While they were both interested in the multidisciplinary field of mechatronics engineering, which combines mechanical, electrical and computer engineering, it wasn’t offered at UH. Roel pursued electrical engineering, while Jacob selected mechanical engineering.
One of Roel’s goals had been to work for Hawaiian Electric. Shortly after graduating college, he went to work for a solar company to gain experience and because he was worried about getting labeled as his father’s son. “Hawaiian Electric is a big part of Hawai‘i’s infrastructure. To work for a company that provides a critical service to its customers is the best I can do for my community. My work in this company will help my community.”
Since joining the company in August 2022, Roel has managed and designed installation and upgrade projects to help improve our communication infrastructure. Due to the diversity of our comm sites and equipment, he’s had the opportunity to work with people from across the company.
It was Roel who had suggested that Jacob, who had been working on Kaua‘i, apply at Hawaiian Electric. And since April 2023, Jacob has been creating and managing projects related to our power plant equipment. A core aspect of his job is designing solutions that our crews can safely implement, which allows him to work closely with operations and maintenance teams throughout the process.
“I’m so excited to see the robotics enthusiasts when they have decided to make Hawaiian Electric their company of choice. Like a proud mother, I enjoy hearing stories from our staff about how their children are succeeding in college in the robotics and energy fields,” said Sam.
Jacob and Roel aren’t the first Hawaiian Electric engineers to have been former robotics competitors — and they certainly won’t be the last. Jacob’s senior supervising engineer Cassie Tasaka and Operations Engineer Elaine Manabe had also competed for McKinley’s Team Kika Mana. In our latest People of Hawaiian Electric video series, Substation Engineering’s Caralyn and Leanne King also shared how robotics and Riley Ceria’s mentorship helped lead them to careers with our company.
“When the robotics students come back to Hawaiian Electric, we know they have intelligence in many different fields and have practiced a positive work ethic years before joining us,” said Sam. “I’ve never built a robot but feel I have built a robotic future.”
Michelle Orian-Lau is a senior communications consultant at Hawaiian Electric.
