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American Morning

Competition Has Students Building the Best Bots

Aired March 26, 2002 - 09:51   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It may have all the atmospherics of a big basketball game during March Madness, but there are no last minute free-throws here. The teams that make it to the Final Four in this competition make it on brains, wheels and gears.

Now, before you rush to get your office pools going, here is CNN's Jeanne Moos with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are cheerleaders, and mascots, and screaming fans, and players tossing balls. There's even a buzzer.

But this is no basketball game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bugle, here we go. This is match five.

MOOS: Robots are the stars here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let the robots through, please. Step aside.

MOOS: It may sound like wrestling...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get ready to rumble!

MOOS: ... but these kids wrestle with robotics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh man, there's nothing like this.

MOOS: The object is to get as many balls as possible into these movable goals, either by tossing them or sucking them up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going down the rail is 571, team paragon from Windsor, Connecticut.

Dropping in a load!

MOOS: The competition held at Columbia University is one of 17 regional contests, the brainchild of inventor Dean Kamen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dean Kamen is my hero. I used to date his vacuum cleaner. MOOS: The last time we saw Dean Kamen, he was introducing the Segway scooter, formerly known as "It." You propel it by leaning ever so slightly. But what Kamen really wants to propel is the study of science and robotics, as opposed to athletics.

DEAN KAMEN: Something is wrong with our culture; our culture makes it seem you really can make it to the NBA if you just dribble another few years.

MOOS: Kamen wants kids to learn something they can turn into a future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It actually got me to engineering, so I'm going to go study electrical engineering next year.

MOOS: Under the guidance of mentors, high school kids spend six weeks building robots. It's called the "first" program.

(on camera): But, the real question is, who designed these outfits?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole team: Chaos Theory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Robo Wizards of Staten Island.

MOOS (voice-over): The Wizards' robot is named "Dorothy," so it figures who the team's mascots would be.

In addition to the goofy outfits, there are team pins.

(on camera): The girls aren't swooning over you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all.

MOOS: The robot guys yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Regardless, we're still nerds.

MOOS (voice-over): Many of the kids are fans of comedy central show "Battlebots." But Dean Cayman doesn't like the idea that those robots destroy each other. In this competition...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're kind of friends with the other teams. It's gracious professionalism.

MOOS (on camera): Better than basketball is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

MOOS (voice-over): Watch robot 679 lose a part. Injured robots are repaired in the pit. The winners move on to the national finals. But the robots weren't the only ones with moving parts.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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