The competition involved 268 robots from high schools across the nation. In the finals we were battered in the first match, losing 7 to 11. Our allies took it to the competition, shutting their scoring down due to incredible engineering by the New Brunswick students. Organizers say the overall goal of the robot games is to allow students to interact with engineers so that youths can see the connection between classroom instruction and the real world. Youths and their advisors designed and constructed their remote-control robots in six weeks.
Advisors are often professional engineers from private industry, government and universities.
The dozen kids on the team are mostly Mexican and Asian in heritage. The only machine shop tool on campus is a drill press. Tom Dyson, ext. 4-2008, both of Ames, have more information about the robotics games.