Students Compete at Battle of the Robots

March 30, 2007 (WPVI) -- It's a March Madness of Smarts - thousands of local high school students involved in a battle of the robots.

The competition has all the excitement and enthusiasm of a major sporting event. But 12-hundred high school students at Drexel University this weekend are competing with their brainpower ... not their athletic skill.

Will Hopkins of the Charter School of Wilmington tells us, "I've been to sporting events and there is a lot of energy there, I can't deny that. It's just the way it envelops everything here is just unbelievable."

The challenge at the first Regional Robotics Competition is called "Rack'n'Roll." The goal is to build a robot that can pick up inner tubes and hang them on posts while keeping the competitors' robots from doing the same thing.

The high school students, some of who came from as far away as California, design, build, operate and repair the robots themselves.

"It's a place where you can actually apply math and science to real life situations. So what I learn in the classroom I can actually apply here in robotics. And it gives me an opportunity for hands on crafts," said Lower Merion high School student Delia Votsch.

And despite what you might think, the students here say don't get the idea that they're all tech geeks.

Kathleen Bommer of Lansdale Catholic High School told us, "You don't have to be into that kind of stuff at all. Before I came I knew nothing about any of this. I couldn't even use a drill. And through it you learn that kind of stuff, even if you don't want to work directly on the robot.

The final day of the competition is Saturday; at that point the top eight teams will pick other robots to join with their robots in the competition to see who will win the final round.

(Copyright 2007 by Action News and 6abc. All Rights Reserved.)

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•