U.S.A.
Page 8 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
August 7, 2017
FIRST Afghan girls’ story was among many at global robotics event
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES. Rodaba Noori,
left, Somayeh Faruqi, Kawsar Rashan, and Lida Azizi,
with Team Afghanistan, encourage their robot during
the final round of competition, at the For Inspiration
and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)
Global Robotics Challenge, held in Washington, D.C.
last month. The challenge is an international robotics
event with teams competing from more than 100
countries. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
By Jessica Gresko
The Associated Press
W
ASHINGTON — An inter-
national robotics competition
last month in Washington
attracted teams of teenagers from more
than 150 nations. The team that drew the
most attention at the For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology
(FIRST) Global Challenge was a squad of
girls from Afghanistan who were twice
rejected for U.S. visas before President
Donald Trump intervened. But there were
even more stories than there were teams.
Here are a few:
Girl power
Sixty percent of the teams participating
in the competition were founded, led, or
organized by women. Of the 830 teens
participating, 209 were girls. And there
were six all-girl teams, including not only
the Afghan squad, but also teams from the
United States, Ghana, Jordan, the
Palestinian territories, and the Pacific
island nation of Vanuatu. Vanuatu’s
nickname: the “SMART Sistas.”
Samira Bader, 16, on the Jordanian
team, said “it’s very difficult for us because
everyone thinks” building robots is “only
for boys.” She said her team wants to prove
“girls can do it.”
The three-girl U.S. team included
sisters Colleen and Katie Johnson of
Everett,
Washington,
and
Sanjna
Ravichandar of Plainsboro, New Jersey.
Colleen Johnson, 16, said her team looks
forward “to a day when an all-girls team is
going to be no more special than an
all-boys team or a co-ed team, just when
that’s completely normal and accepted.”
The team competing from Brunei was
also all female, though a male member
previously worked on the project.
An unusual alliance
The United States and Russia were on
the same side. During the fourth round of
the competition, the U.S. team was paired
with teams from Russia and Sudan to work
as an alliance.
The robots all the teams in the
competition created were designed with
the same kit of parts and perform the same
task: pick up and distinguish between blue
and orange balls. To score points, teams
deposited the blue balls, which repre-
sented water, and the orange balls, which
represented contaminants, into different
locations. Each three-nation alliance com-
peted head to head in two-and-a-half
minute games.
Both U.S. and Russian teams compli-
mented their counterparts after their
game. Russian team member Aleksandr
Iliasov said of the U.S. team: “They
cooperate well.” And U.S. team member
Colleen Johnson called the Russian team’s
robot “very innovative,” saying they had
smartly used extra wheels and gears and
zip ties to keep balls inside their robot.
Despite their good collaboration, U.S.-
Russia-Sudan fell short, losing 40 to 20 to
Zimbabwe, Moldova, and Trinidad and
Tobago.
With a little help from my friends
The team from Iran got some help
building their robot from American
students. It turned out the competition’s
kit of robot parts that included wheels,
brackets, sprockets, gears, pulleys, and
belts was not approved for shipment to
Iran due to sanctions involving technology
exports to the country. So the competition
recruited a robotics team at George C.
Marshall High School in Falls Church,
Virginia, to help. Iran’s team designed the
robot, and about five Marshall students
built it in the United States.
The team explained on its competition
webpage that “our friends in Washington
made our ideas as a robot.”
Because of the time difference between
the countries, the three-member team and
its mentor were sometimes up at midnight
or 3:00am in Iran to talk to their
collaborators.
Amin Dadkhah, 15, called working with
the American students “a good and
exciting experience for both of us.”
Kirianna Baker, one of the U.S. students
who built the robot, agreed. “Having a
team across the world with a fresh set of
eyes is very valuable,” she said.
Team hope
A group of three refugees from Syria
competed as team “Refugee,” also known
as team “Hope.” All three fled Syria to
Lebanon three years ago because of
violence in their country.
Mohamad Nabih Alkhateeb, Amar
Kabour, and Maher Alisawui named their
robot “Robogee,” a combination of the
words “robot” and “refugee.”
Alkhateeb, 17, and Kabour, 16, say they
want to be robotics engineers, and
Alisawui wants to be a computer engineer.
Kabour said it was important to the team
to perform well to “tell the world” refugees
are “here and they can do it.”
Alkhateeb also said living as a refugee
has been difficult, but he hopes to someday
return home.
“I will go back after I have finished my
education so I can rebuild Syria again,” he
said.
Some 11 million people — half the
Syrian population — have been forced
from their homes.
Results
Teams left with gold, silver, and bronze
medals in a variety of categories.
The Europe team won a gold award for
getting the most cumulative points over
the course of the competition. Poland
received silver and Armenia bronze.
Finland won a gold award for winning the
best win-loss record. Silver went to
Singapore and bronze to India.
There were also awards for engineering
design, innovation, and international
unity, among others. The Afghanistan
team won a silver medal for “courageous
achievement.” The award recognized
teams that exhibited a “can-do” attitude
even under difficult circumstances or
when things didn’t go as planned. The gold
medal in that category went to the South
Sudan team and bronze to the Oman team,
whose students are deaf.
The 2018 competition will be held in
Mexico City.
Supreme Court justice Gorsuch welcomes new citizens
AWKWARD EXCHANGE. Associate Supreme Court justice Neil
Gorsuch, left, shakes hands with an attendee after speaking during a
civics program showcase at the 9th Circuit’s judicial conference in San
Francisco, California. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, Pool)
By Sudhin Thanawala
The Associated Press
S
AN FRANCISCO — A U.S. Supreme Court justice
who was in favor of completely reinstating
President Donald Trump’s ban on travellers from
six mostly Muslim countries welcomed new U.S. citizens
in July, encouraging them to tolerate different points of
view and respect people with whom they disagree.
“Democracy depends on our willingness to hear and
respect even those we disagree with strongly,” U.S.
Supreme Court associate justice Neil Gorsuch told the
citizens following a naturalization ceremony at the 9th
Circuit’s judicial conference. “In a government by and for
the people, we have to remember those with whom we
disagree, even vehemently, still have the best interests of
the country at heart.”
Gorsuch’s visit came as the Trump administration
asked the high court to again weigh in on its ban on
travellers from six mostly Muslim countries. Gorsuch was
among three justices who said in June that the ban should
be completely reinstated pending arguments before the
high court, and the justice could not escape discussion of
the ban during his visit to the 9th Circuit conference.
With Gorsuch seated next to her, an Alaska high school
student earlier in the day read her winning essay on
Japanese internment — a topic selected by the 9th
Circuit.
Olivia Tafs, 15, compared the treatment of Muslims
after the September 11 attacks to that of Japanese
Americans during World War II. She cited Trump’s travel
ban as an example of what she said was ethnic profiling.
Give blood.
To schedule a blood donation call 1-800-G IVE-LIFE
or visit HelpSaveALife.org.
Gorsuch shook her hand following the speech.
Gorsuch was a late fill-in at the 9th Circuit conference
for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who
cancelled his trip after his wife fractured her hip in
Austria. The 9th Circuit — the nation’s largest federal
court circuit — includes the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals and district and bankruptcy courts in California
and eight other western states.
Judges in the circuit have blocked both of Trump’s
travel bans and halted his attempt to strip funding from
so-called sanctuary cities.
Gorsuch’s remarks come as the Trump administration
asks the Supreme Court to again weigh in on its ban on
travellers from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran, and
Yemen. Gorsuch joined justice Samuel Alito in a dissent
written by Justice Clarence Thomas in June that said the
ban, which also blocks refugees, should be completely
reinstated pending arguments before the high court
scheduled for October.
The dissent argued the administration had made a
“strong showing” that it was likely to succeed in over-
turning court orders blocking the ban. The administration
has argued the ban is needed for national security. Lower
court judges have cited Trump’s comments on the
campaign trail as evidence that it was motivated by
anti-Muslim bias.
The Supreme Court majority in June said the
administration could mostly enforce its travel ban, but
must exempt those “with a credible claim of a bona fide
relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”
U.S. District judge Derrick Watson in Hawai‘i in July
ordered the government to allow in refugees formally
working with a resettlement agency in the U.S. His order
also vastly expanded the list of U.S. family relationships
that refugees and visitors from six Muslim-majority
countries could use to get into the country, including
grandparents and grandchildren. The ruling opened the
door to entry for tens of thousands of refugees.
The administration appealed the ruling to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
q
Talking Story: How Tongan
America speaks to us
Continued from page 6
afternoon.
Outside another cool breeze, and then another, was
arriving on that grand circular sweep of Pacific waves and
weather that has brought Pacific islanders here then back
there, over and over, longer than the longest memories of
any of our grand aunties, Native, settled, and New
Americans alike.
When asked by a Hollywood Star news reporter what’s
next, princess Mele Kavapalu answered, naturally:
“Growing up, my family travelled throughout the west
coast and across the Pacific Ocean and that travelling
inspired me to become a pilot.”
To learn more about Rose Festival princess Mele Kavapalu, please
see Maileen Hamto’s June 5, 2017 Asian Reporter story, located at
<www.asianreporter.com/stories/local/2017/11-mele.htm>.
A 60-second video of the Filipina/Ethiopian/Tongan Rose
Festival Court’s “I Want You Back” is found online at
<www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOdf0rCbUwM>.