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Youths build camaraderie during robotics contest

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

Shae Machlus, 10, watches as teammates from Scientific Smarties put their robot through its paces.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 8, 2009

TAMPA - Teams from a robotics summer camp put their computing and construction skills into practice this week at the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library.

Monday's tournament challenged the teams to complete as many robot-assisted missions, such as transporting Lego figures from one spot to another, as they could in a timed drill.

About 15 children from Hillsborough and Pasco counties participated, dividing duties between programming and construction. Builders modified a robot base with Legos to complete missions, and programmers worked on laptops to make sure their robots moved smoothly between tasks.

The two-week camp raised money for Team Duct Tape, an Odessa-based high school robotics team of private and home-schooled students.

Monday's match pitted the "Scientific Smarties" against the "White Knights," but the children knew it was more about fun than cut-throat competition.

"What we learn is more important than what we win," said Ray Cordova, a fifth-grader at Imagine School in Land O' Lakes.

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