ROBOTS

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Members of the Robotics Club at Rockville's Col. Zadok Magruder High School never met a robot they didn't like.

Of course, most of them had only met two -- the ones they built last year and this year for the Chesapeake FIRST Regional robotics competition. It doesn't take into account the robots that ultimately defeated theirs.

The robotic devices they built themselves are tested in the contest to see how quickly they can lift large plastic rings and place them onto horizontal metal poles. At least that's part of it. As complicated as robots may be, the rules for competition are even more daunting.

The unusual challenge is part of a robotics competition sponsored for the past 16 years by FIRST, a not-for-profit organization headquartered in New Hampshire. The Magruder club's 25 members were among an estimated 32,000 young people in the United States and abroad participating in a staggered series of regional events leading to the national robotics playoffs in Atlanta in April.

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition is unusual because points that lead to prize money are given for team spirit and cooperation as well as for the robot's performance. The idea behind the contest, founded by inventor Dean Kamen, is to generate appreciation of and interest in science and technology by building on the same excitement generated in sport.

Magruder High School was involved this year for only the second time, fielding one of 58 teams at the Chesapeake FIRST Regional contest -- titled "Rack 'n' Roll" -- which concluded Saturday at the U.S. Naval Academy's field house in Annapolis. The two-day event resembled a series of high-tension basketball games operated by remote control: March madness of an entirely different kind.

The event required the Magruder team to design and build a robot within six weeks, using whatever tools the team members could devise and working with only a basic kit of parts that are the same for every entry. Team members learn to work together by understanding how each can contribute to better all their chances.

Rules for the regional meet require that teams be randomly grouped to earn points with other teams as well, but the groupings aren't revealed until the last minute. (The better-known Intel Science Talent Search, by contrast, encourages individual initiative and the development of cutting-edge research.)

The FIRST challenge is a costly enterprise, both in terms of time and money, and requires the help of many adult volunteers and the support of underwriters from the private and public sector. Fortunately for Magruder, the U.S. Department of Commerce this year gave a $10,000 grant to its project, with the remainder of the money -- $6,000 is required just to enter -- coming from local corporations.

When a notice went up asking for volunteers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology to advise the team, Magruder got lucky a second time with the response from engineer Kevin Lyons. An engineering specialist in the fields of nanometrology and nanomanufacturing whose four children had graduated from the school, he became the lead adviser among four institute employees involved. Mentoring is a large part of the program.