SEE VIDEO of exciting moments from the robotics competition (VIDEO: Dario Thuburn)

Amid drilling sounds and announcements over the PA system, hundreds of goggle-clad schoolchildren in sponsored outfits shuttled between a bustling workshop and a raucous auditorium for a high school robotics competition at New York’s Riverbank State Park in Harlem last month.

Organizers said they initially had trouble setting up the robotics event in New York because of a weak manufacturing tradition and bureaucratic issues. But the nationwide challenge, which has 30 regional events, is now in its fifth year in New York.

The nonprofit group behind the event, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST, also organizes a Lego League for younger schoolchildren and provides $6 million in university scholarships, mostly for engineering students.

“It’s difficult to know how to get things done in New York,” said Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST and a famous inventor of medical appliances at the competition’s closing speech. FIRST Robotics was started in 1991 but only started the New York competition in 2000.

The organization is trying to promote advanced technical skills in high schools and turn engineering into something both fun and useful. Across the country, some 900 teams take part, compared with 28 when the organization was first set up.

This year, the challenge culminates in a national event in Atlanta on April 21-23. One of the organizers of the New York event, Ana Martinez, who dashed around the competition space clutching a walkie-talkie and wearing a microphone headset, said New York teams may be at a disadvantage against people from places with stronger industrial histories. A developed industrial base in famous manufacturing centers, such as Detroit provides for more sponsorship opportunities and an abundance of technical know how, she said

Teams rush to move their robots in between matches (PHOTO: Catherine Shu)

Thirty-three teams, mainly from New York, but also from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and even Cambridge, England, took part in the challenge, driving robots around a 27-by-54-foot arena. The robots had to fulfill a number of tasks, including autonomous and human-operated driving, and stacking plastic colored triangles onto metal scaffolds in the arena for points during matches lasting 2 minutes 15 seconds each.

Detailed instructions for the game were issued in January and kits containing basic components were sent out to each registered team, giving teams around two and a half months to assemble the machine. Aided by teachers and supported by parents, many children stayed behind at school in the evenings or during weekends to finish in time, picking up technical knowledge and team spirit along the way.

"Student learn more than just math and engineering," said Nivin Pei, the mother of Brearley Bots co-captail Kristin Kogetsu, "They're learning life skills, team work, project planning, work delegation, and leadership skills."

That spirit was on display at the competition, which often resembled a rowdy sporting event rather than an engineering competition. Parents and children often seemed as enthused as the children and many teams wore distinctive, colorful clothing. Stirred by announcers, the audience sang and danced at the spectacle. In the end, First founder Kamen had trouble making himself heard over the chants.

The overall winner in the rankings was Morris High School, alma mater of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, but several teams won runner-up awards, as well as prizes for sportsmanship and design.

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