By Heather Angney
STAFF WRITER

MILLBRAE - Cheers rang out and palms slapped in high-fives when Mills High School's first robot came to life Thursday afternoon in the school metal shop.

A team of about 37 Mills High School students and teachers are entering a competition that requires them to build a robot that can grasp, lift and transport big rubber balls.

At 2 p.m. today, the giant robot must be packed in a wooden crate and shipped to Florida, where students will join it in April. Their creation will face off against 200 other robots from high schools around the country at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center.

Thursday afternoon, students were in emergency mode. During a test run Wednesday, the lift mechanism seemed shaky. They had less than 48 hours to fix it. They worked in the school metal shop until the wee hours of the morning. And Thursday afternoon, although the lift seemed stronger, they knew they might be facing another night of pizza, donuts, and caffeine.

The students, most of them novice robot-makers, have been working on the robot every weekday since early January. While still trying to keep up with all their classes, they have been designing the robot on computers, welding and drilling, and raising money for the project.

"Our teachers have been very supportive," said 16-year-old Gilbert Lip, one of four students spearheading the project. "I guess they understand that this teaches you a lot of things, like science and math, finance, cooperation and communication."

The students have raised $18,000, but they need almost twice that to cover the cost of going to Florida. The contest entrance fee alone is $4,000.