Inspiring, indeed.

In front of 25,000 people and 343 teams from around the world, two students representing the Waialua High School robotics team accepted one of the top prizes at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship — the Engineering Inspiration Award — last Saturday.

Building robots has become a growth industry in Hawai'i high schools: The number of teams participating in FIRST Robotics jumped from 4 to 25 this year. And that's a good thing considering the role science and technology plays and will continue to play in our global future.

At the national championships at Atlanta's Georgia Dome last weekend, six Hawai'i schools competed. That's no small matter. To compete at this level requires commitment and skill that rivals any athletic team.

For Waialua, it's not just about spending a few weeks building a robot that can toss a ball over an obstacle. It's a year-round, after-school commitment that requires applying math, engineering, computer-assisted design and technology skills. It requires teamwork to pull the project together. And it requires a business plan: Robot parts are expensive, as is traveling to Mainland competitions. Building partnerships among schools, businesses and the community was a critical component to the success shown in Atlanta.

The six local high schools who competed in Atlanta — McKinley (a division finalist), Honoka'a, Radford, Sacred Hearts and Waiakea and Waialua — all deserve praise for their efforts.

They've inspired Gov. Linda Lingle, who attended the competition and sees robotics in high school as an investment in Hawai'i's high-tech future. Waialua's success is an impressive return on that wise investment.

We know all of the state joins us in congratulating all of our students who took part in the national competition.