STUDENTS' ROBOTS PUT TO TEST

POTSDAM — A small remote-controlled robot raced around a cordoned-off area while its builders tried to get it to do their bidding.

Teams from 19 schools across the north country, Rochester and Pennsylvania gathered Friday in Walker Arena for the fourth annual FIRST Robotics Championship Tournament, where they competed for points, glory and the chance to win a trip to St. Louis to compete again.

The high school students who were in charge were trying to get their robot to grab short batons and put them in cups to win goals. Most of the robots had no trouble moving back and forth across the field, but actually getting a hold of the batons and moving them to the goals proved more difficult.

"We've been working since the beginning of school," said Matthew S. Conger, a senior at Ogdensburg Free Academy. "It's everybody in the class's first year. I think we're going to do pretty good."

When it was his team's turn, the robot did have some trouble collecting the batons to drop in the two scoring spots.

But the competition was only one reason the teams seemed excited to participate in the tournament. Many of them had equipped their robots, and outfits, with team spirit. One robot had a fang decal on its side and teams wore fedoras, cut the sleeves off their T-shirts, or even had lights on their vests.

"We bought the lights and we poked them through the holes and we all have battery packs in our pockets," said Kelsea L. Soluri, a "spirit engineer" on the OFA team. "It's just something different."

Miss Soluri and the other seven members of her team were all wearing bright yellow construction vests with blue lights on the back writing out their team number, 153.

Friday was the first day of the two-day event, to be concluded today with a FIRST Lego League robotics competition for younger students. Several Clarkson University students were helping out, acting as referees and dealing with the small technical problems that arose in a room full of robots and computers.

FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology. The Manchester, N.H.-based group aims to turn young people into leaders in science and technology.

"I actually was in the FIRST Robotics program in high school," referee and Clarkson junior Meredith A. Emerson said. "One of the reasons I came to Clarkson was because they had a FIRST Robotics team."