Call it the battle of the robots.
Hundreds of high school students came to UC Davis on Thursday to pit their mechanical creations against each other in a three-day contest of engineering nerve and skill.
The Sacramento Regional FIRST Robotics Competition continues today and Saturday and offers a free show for fans of science and spectacle.
"It's a sport of the mind," said Jim Beck, FIRST's regional director.
FIRST – which stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology" – is a nonprofit group founded 20 years ago by inventor Dean Kamen to foster interest in science, math and engineering.
Today, more than 2,000 teams compete around the globe for a shot at the championship, to be held next month in St. Louis.
In one of 53 regional events this month, dozens of teams from across Northern California gathered Thursday for practice rounds at the UC Davis ARC Pavilion.
The robots lined up in teams, with three on each side, to vie for points.
Their mission: To pick up red, white and blue inflatable objects and place them on tall racks.
That was easier said than done for the machines, built and programmed by the students and only recently unpacked from their shipping crates.
In the arena, some robots just sat there. Others moved about ineffectually. A few did their jobs with little problem.
A robot from Arroyo Grande High School picked up the tubes in its claw and set them on hooks, to the cheers of supporters in the stands.
Once the bugs are worked out the competition becomes much more exciting, organizers said.
Nearby in the cavernous gym, crews were busy reprogramming, adjusting and fixing their robots.
Students from Kennedy High School, in Sacramento's Pocket neighborhood, hastily unscrewed their robot's bumpers after a safety inspector declared them too high.
Matt Funakoshi, 18, who had programmed the robot, went to work with a cordless drill.
The machine, which the students dubbed KAM, looked like a cross between a small forklift and a high-tech bumper car, with fluorescent green tubing.
The school entered its first competition last year. Mandy Chen, 17, said she and her teammates learned they needed to be organized in the tough competition and work together as a unit.
"We learned we had to play the game to win the game," she said.
Megan Yee, a senior at Kennedy, said she joined the team this year and wants to be an engineer and work with robots.
"It's creating something and helping other people," she said.
Nerdy?
No way, she said. "I've always thought it was cool."
IF YOU GO
What: Sacramento Regional FIRST Robotics Competition
Where: UC Davis ARC Pavilion
Directions: From I-80, take Hwy. 113 north. Exit Hutchison Drive and bear right. Turn left on La Rue Road and right on Orchard Road.
When: Today and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free; $6 parking fee
Details: www.firstsac.org
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