Waiakea High School's robotics team this month took a first-place award in the 16th annual International Microbot competition held in Japan.

Facing off against several college teams from across Asia, students representing the Hilo school won the Fully Autonomous Micro Robot Maze Competition with a robot named Teeny Humuhumu.

The team took third place in the Micro Robot Racer competition with a robot named Stich.05; fifth place, Remote Controlled Micro Robot Maze Competition, with Teeny Humuhumu; and a special judges' award for best effort.

The competition revolved around the building and control of miniature robots. One challenge restricted volume to one cubic inch. A more rigorous challenge set the bar at one cubic centimeter.

Waiakea alumnus and UH-Manoa graduate Riley Ceria — now a CalTech Sub-Millimeter Observatory electrical engineer — served as a mentor for the students.