For a change, I did something interesting today. The FIRST Robotics Competition was being held at the Sports Arena, and admission was free, so I went and took a look. High schools all over the state put together teams to build robots for this competition. It wasn't a combat competition, instead, the robots worked in teams to pick up inflatable rings and hang them on a goal structure. Although I wouldn't have minded seeing a few sparks fly, I think this goal required the students to put a bit more thought into their designs than a robot brawl would have. Why didn't they have this way back when I was in school? (Probably because computers were an altogether more seductive subject then.) Anyway, here are a few pictures...