The robots knock into each other in a game called Botball, with two teams of anxious masters standing on the sidelines. No remote controls are allowed. Some robot wheels and limbs are sheared off in the process, but demolition is not the objective. The robots are programmed to roll around a large table, knocking over cylinders filled with balls. Picking up a cylinder and placing it on a post is the toughest technical challenge.
Competitors can also score by climbing into or tugging around a square made of plastic pipe.
A cheer erupted when the team from Holton-Arms School, a private girls academy in Bethesda, tried for the tournament's technical holy grail. But then it wouldn't let go, and the move was disqualified. We were programming this at 11 last night. Later, during a final attempt to pull off the maneuver, Double F got stuck before it could even pick up the cylinder. Arms crossed, a dejected Nagi put her head on a green rail and wiped her eye.