Botball: The revenge of the nerds? Not today.

By Maggie Beidelman

Botball. The name says it all. Pint-sized robots traverse table-top playing fields while glasses-clad teammates steam up their lenses with mental concentration -- okay, not quite.

But the energy and enthusiasm were definitely visible in the Leavey Center on April 22, when students from grade, middle and high schools set loose their precious robots to compete in the Northern California Regional Botball Competition.

The Botball Educational Robotics Program is an educational outreach program, beginning with a workshop in which teams are shown how to create their own robots.

For the seven weeks following the workshop, each team creates their own robot to participate in the competition.

Upon approaching the only out-of-state school in the event, Clark High School of Las Vegas, Nev., I was immediately introduced to "Señor Sassy Pants, Jr.," their robot. Señor is lovingly named after "our robotics teacher," said one student.

The robot's sleek skeletal frame is made of multi-colored LEGOs, and it runs off of a "mother chip," motors and a nifty Game Boy, the student said. Students participating in this event take robotics as a science class at school.

As the exceptionally enthusiastic NASA representative told the audience, these students are taught the basic skills of robotics in the hopes that it will develop into something greater, such as the ingenuity of NASA's Mars rovers, which many of the robots in the Botball competition resembled in an amateur form.

Sifting through the crowd, I was amazed at the variety of people at the event.

Of course, there's always the middle-aged father with shorts buckled above his waist, circle-lens glasses and a sweatshirt declaring: "Everyone is born right-handed. Only the gifted overcome it."

But, there was also the teenage guy sporting a dyed mohawk and the classy dressed girl.

Above all, the enthusiasm that persisted throughout the seven-and-a-half hour event was felt by all, short and tall.

I wonder, is science -- particularly, robotics -- such a nerd-focused thing anymore? Recent signs point to no, or at least not quite.

The goal of these pre-programmed, remote control-less bots was to rescue "Botguy," a stuffed robot suspended two feet above a table covered in "Tribbles," little furry objects on the table. By placing these critters in their proper places on the playing table, the bots achieved extra points for their team.

The intelligent bots have sensors that react to changes in light, sound, distance and color.

Because the robots are programmed to compete completely on their own, all the students can do is sit back, biting their already bitten down fingernails as the bots roll and sway, for better or for worse.

This year's winners were the "cool kids" from Elsie Allen High School of Santa Rosa. Mohawk Boy proudly strutted with his posse, flaunting a bounty of several trophies and some goody bags from Google, who sponsored the event along with NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Naval Research Laboratory.

Why, with their immense brains and sympathy-inducing style -- or lack thereof -- do the nerds never prevail?

Spirits were still high among all teams, though, at the conclusion of the day. Players shook hands, teams posed for priceless photos with their paper certificates, and the little boy with wrap-around glasses beamed at his souvenir yo-yo.

Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu.