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CNN Live Today
Brooklyn Public School Makes Final Robot Competition
Aired April 26, 2002 - 12:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Educators often boast of modern Internet connections and the use of advanced materials and high-tech programs. Well, today, meet the little red robot.
Beth Nissen now in Brooklyn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once upon a time in the urban kingdom of Brooklyn, there was a public school that decided to enter a robot competition, even though the students had no robotics background, no workshop, no tools.
MIKE DENCH, ROBOTICS INSTRUCTOR: We didn't have a lathe. We didn't have a drill press. We didn't have a band saw. The only table saw we had, I brought in. We didn't have the basic machine tools that you really need to build a decent robot.
NISSEN: The would-be robot makers -- eventually 50 students would take part -- held fund-raisers, begged corporate sponsors, scrounged together the $5,000 competition entry fee, and got in exchange a robot starter kit of basic electronics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just opened the boxes and dumped everything out on the table and just spread it out. And I was like, "What is all this"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we were like, "How are we going to make something out of this?
NISSEN: The students had six weeks to design and build a robot for the competition known as FIRST. This year's FIRST contest required robots that could fill moving goals with soccer balls, maneuver goals into scoring position, or do both.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We wanted to build a simple, efficient design. Basically, all it does is that it just latches on to the goal so we can maneuver it to wherever we need to.
NISSEN: They built their robot out of wood, reluctantly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all wanted metal. We were like metal, metal, metal.
NISSEN: But metal was too expensive. And they didn't have the tools for cutting or drilling it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our mentor, Dench, he just told us, stick with wood. Wood is stronger than metal in some cases.
NISSEN: Students borrowed tools from the school janitor, from teachers, parents, even this day from a CNN sound man. They turned a classroom into a makeshift shop, worked on the robot after school, on weekends, often late into the night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we have free time at lunch, come straight to this room, start working on the robot.
NISSEN: Many of the students' families, friends and peers in other schools doubted the rookie Brooklyn team could do it.
RICO ST. JUSTE, 12TH GRADER: There were a lot of stereotypes, thinking that, since this was a minority school, that we were going to do really badly and that we were going to be lazy. We probably wouldn't even complete the robot in time.
NISSEN: But they did, just in time for the regionals in Manhattan last month. They were amazed and unsettled when they saw the robots built by other schools with greater resources: complex robots, multifunctional robots, sleek, expensive robots made of Plexiglas and metal, metal, metal.
DENCH: They were all like, "Oh, God, look at all these." I said, "The more pieces a machine has, the more there is to go wrong."
NISSEN: The team gamely put its plain red robot into play. They'd painted it red with leftover fire hydrant paint.
ANNOUNCER: Skills Tech Team from Brooklyn pushing the goal.
NISSEN: The game is far too complex to explain here in full, but trust us, the little plywood robot did well against the other fancier robots.
ANNOUNCER: And the Skills Tech Team with the little red robot that could moving across the field, moving into scoring position. Ten points.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Theirs were made out of metal. So, their robots were a little slower than ours. And so we can grab the goal...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Way before they can.
NISSEN: Other robot teams scored more points, so the team from Science Skills High School wasn't expecting anything at the awards ceremony. Then the award for exceptional design was announced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations to the defensive tank the judges dubbed the little red robot that could.
(APPLAUSE) NISSEN: The team qualified for the national finals to be held this weekend at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida: a storybook ending in itself for these teenagers, most of whom plan for college and careers in science and technology.
(on camera): Is there a moral to this story?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks can be deceiving.
ST. JUSTE: Never underestimate the power of a rookie team. Determination beats ability every time.
(LAUGHTER)
NISSEN (voice-over): And that's the story, so far, of the little robot made with epoxied plywood, borrowed pliers and a lot of heart: the little red robot that could.
Beth Nissen, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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