The Palo Alto High School senior still likes to play piano, but now she is also thinking about

studying engineering in college, thanks to her experience in a project that exposes students to the world of robotics.

"It really gets everyone in a team, talking about different ideas," said Poole.

Earlier this week, Poole participated in a one-on-one exhibition game between robots built by students from six high schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

One four-member team played against another team during a two-minute period that required both offensive and defensive moves.

Built on a base the size of a wheelchair, the Palo Alto High robot moved across the floor, its slow but steady movements directed by two student "drivers" operating the remote control mechanism on the

[See ROBOTS, A-12]

Robot projects challenge students

stage floor.

A claw-like mechanism extended from the telescoping arm, reached down to grasp a ball, lifting it up to the top of the pyramid. With the arm in position over the hoop, the claw released and dropped the ball in.

The robot controlled by Monta Vista High students pivoted into position to block the Palo Alto High robot. The blocking move turned into a slow-motion collision, knocking off a piece of the Palo Alto robot, before the Monta Vista High robot went on to score points.

Standing 4 feet tall and weighing in at 122 pounds, Palo Alto High's robot has a wrist-like mechanism that could grab and toss balls.

It scored. It blocked. It worked. "I love engineering," said team captain Mike Atwood. "I love designing something on paper and then going ahead and building it."

The exhibition, held in a darkened theater at Gunn High School,

gave students the opportunity to show off the robots they'd built for a national contest in April among 200 high schools in Orlando, Fla.

NASA Ames Research Center organized the participation of the local schools in the national competition, which began about five years ago.

Some 30 Bay Area high-tech companies provided mentors and financial support for this year's contest. About 150 students participated from Los Altos High School, Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Palo Alto High School, Mills High School in Millbrae, Woodside High School, Monta Vista High School in Cupertino and Aptos High School.

During the national competition, Gunn gave the best showing of the Bay Area schools, ranking 35th out of 209 teams.

From brainstorming to the final assembly, the robots were made over a seven-week period that started in January. Each school received an identical box of raw materials and parts. Students contributed hundreds of hours of their free time to build their robots.

Daryl Rasmussen, a NASA Ames engineer who specializes in

robotics and virtual reality, said the agency planned to sponsor a West Coast regional competition next year before the national competition.

"A lot more schools from the Bay Area are going to have an opportunity to be part of this," he said.

A regional contest will provide local teams with more experience before going into the national competition, Rasmussen said.

This year was the first time that students from Monta Vista participated.

"First we just started out with an idea, then helped design the strategy that was needed to build... so it could work," said Shirly Lai, a 16-year-old junior who led the team. "When it finally works, you are overjoyed."

Besides engineering and computers skills, building a robot exposes students to people skills.

"We had to go out and beg (companies) for money. You have to be business-like and have a 10-page proposal," said Louie Lu, who helped create a stunning animated video that showed the Monta Vista robot in action.