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David Kleiman, left, and Dima Yegoshin, right, of Palo Alto's Gunn High School, place their robot on the arena floor for competition. The Gunn Robotics Team won the Regional Chairman's Award in the First Robotics Competition Silicon Valley Regional on Sa [Click to enlarge]

Last Thursday through Saturday, the 2002 First Robotics Competition Silicon Valley Regional was held at the San Jose State University campus Event Center. More than 50 colorfully clad, spirited high school teams from the Bay Area and beyond came to test out their engineering wits against each other in hopes of qualifying for the nationals.

Thursday afternoon found the Event Center crammed full of teenagers crouched intently around their robots as they raced to finish there engineered projects and test them out before competition.

"Look at the diversity of teams we have here," said Jim Beck, director of lifelong learning for the college of engineering, as he pointed out various groups such as the four teams from Hawaii and the Fembots from the all-girl Saint Francis High School of Sacramento.

Diversity is an important part of the annual robotics competition as its main purpose is to encourage a greater variety of youth to take active interest in science and technology, according to the First mission statement. Beck spends a good deal of his time building relationships with returning participant teams as well as recruiting new teams to join the annual competition.

Other prominent elements of the competition are team spirit and goodwill, illustrated by fun spirited team uniforms and open cooperation between teams. Some teams' members could be seen frequenting the rows of workstations throughout the three-day event, offering to share help or tools with other teams.

Squads wore matching T-shirts bearing their team names, and most added to their theme with accessories such as bandanas, hats, or matching dyed hair. The Waialua High School team from Hawaii carried floral flags with their team number and gave out seashell necklaces as goodwill gifts to competing teams and sponsors. Los Altos High School went for the nerdy stereotype, donning lab coats stamped with their team number, while Gunn High School's team (from San Jose) wore red and black bowling shirts and dyed their hair bright red and styled with pompadours or punk-style spikes.

All teams had received the same crateful of parts to work with in creating their robots for competition. Yet, no two robots looked the same, as the teams used different problem-solving approaches to their project. All were required to work with the parts given and to keep their final product under the 130-pound weight limit.

Teams were required to maneuver their robots within a 48-foot by 24-foot five-zone arena, using the robots to get soccer balls into moveable goal baskets. Within a two-minute time limit, teams remote controlled their robots from behind Plexiglas as their families and other teammates cheered or coached from the sidelines. Points were awarded based on what zone the robot and goals were positioned in when balls were scored into the goal baskets.

The competition was broadcast live on the Internet. According to Beck, teams from around the nation keep careful watch on the Silicon Valley Regional for the latest engineering ideas, as the teams that participate are sponsored by a lengthy list of technology companies.

At the end of three frenzied days of robotic March madness, the competition was narrowed down to three regional winners: Bellarmine College Preparatory School of San Jose, CA; Kingman High School of Kingman, AZ; and Waialua High School of Waialua, HI. Bellarmine's team was awarded the No.1 seed, and the Regional Chairman's Award was given to Gunn High School of Palo Alto, CA.

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