On Sunday at New York’s Javits Center, hundreds of teens gathered to compete in the finals of the FIRST Robotics Competition regionals. The winners will go on to the National Competition in Atlanta—for the rest, this competition was the end of the assembly line. On the track, the competition was fierce and students eyed each others' handiwork warily. But behind the scenes in the pit, where goggle-clad kids wielded screwdrivers and tinkered with their machines, the students shared their knowledge with each other, with experienced groups often lending a hand to first-timers. The Capri-Sun flowed freely.
Joseph Messina, of Saunders Trades and Technical High School in Brooklyn, was a little nervous after the practice rounds. “Gravity,” he said, was his team’s main problem—just seconds into the round, their robot fell over and lay helpless on the track floor until time ran out. But the team brought their robot, Linda, back ...
