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The laptops were out in force last Friday at Western Technical College as 85 electronics students from 12 area high schools tried to coax robots representing their respective schools through a series of intricate maneuvers.

The event, sponsored by Western’s electronic program, featured future engineers and computer programmers from Holmen, Onalaska, West Salem, Melrose-Mindoro and eight other schools. The robots, about the size of a 5-inch cube, were purchased through a grant written by Western electronics instructor Jonathan Burman.

“The robot challenge is a great opportunity to show high school kids what electronics is all about,” Burman said. “The robots really grab their attention and make it a fun experience.”

Each is equipped with a circuit board, wheels, a drive mechanism and various of sensors. Students write computer programs — that’s where the laptops come in handy — to tell the robots what to do based on the information received from sensors.

West Salem technology education instructor Paul Liethen brought all 13 members of his high tech class.

“The skills involved here are the same ones used in robotics manufacturing,” he said.

Some kids need less encouragement to get involved in the field than others. Kevin Bertrang, a freshman at Onalaska High School, said he’s been interested in robots since sixth grade. With his team’s robot about to enter the dead reckoning course — robots got two attempts to travel in a square and wind up as close as possible to their starting point — Bertrang was busy tweaking the computer program.

“These kids really get pumped for this — they even bring their own music,” said Ben Heiser, the instructor who works with members of the Onalaska Technology Education Club after school.

Heiser said students learn many skills in working with the robots.

“They use math, advanced algebra and they learn how to write computer code — they love it,” he said. “These are the kinds of skills that are very helpful in manufacturing and engineering.”

Bertrang summed up what he learned about communicating with a machine.

“There’s a lot of problem-solving and designing and writing programs,” he said. “Computers are different. You have to be very clear and precise when you give them instructions.”

Over at the Holmen High School table, students Connor Wilhemson and Jared Mullenbach were attempting to solve a frustratingly, familiar problem with a balky computer.

“This is the third year in a row we’ve had laptop problems — it was working great earlier,” said Steve Jennings, the Holmen tech ed teacher.

Of course, learning what to do when things don’t work out as planned is a valuable skill in itself. Jim Briggs, an instructor from Melrose-Mindoro, said such “bumps in the road” can be of great value.

“If you look around here today, you’ll see kids solving problems, dealing with the unexpected and persevering,” he said. “It just shows that kids will pursue extracurricular activities like this if they’re given the chance.”

When the final scores were tallied for the dead reckoning portion of the competition, Westby was declared the winner, with Onalaska second and Sparta third. After a mediocre first run, the Onalaska team rewrote the program to earn second place.

“It was a slightly different surface than we practiced on, so we had to alter the computer code slightly in order to get it within an inch,” Bertrang said.

The second portion of the challenge required the robots to do a timed run through a maze. A strong Sparta team finished first, with Melrose-Mindoro coming in second and West Salem tied with New Lisbon for third.

In the final portion of the competition, schools showed off their most original program designs. Burman said he was particularly impressed with the Tomah and West Salem entries.

“One of the kids from Tomah built a magnetic projectile launcher. He just built it out of spare parts — you really have to see it,” he said.

Burman added that NASA is looking into exactly the same principle to launch spacecraft should the agency ever have a base on the moon.

West Salem students put together one of the most entertaining projects of the day — three robots dancing in sync to “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. The idea was the brainchild of Slovakian exchange student Marek Hevesi, a freshman.

“We were just screwing around (making the robots dance) and then we started thinking maybe we could write a program for it,” Hevesi said.

Hevesi admitted that he did not know American music well enough to suggest a song to go with it, but fellow freshman Ben Christianson came to the rescue with the perfect song to synchronize with the robot “dancers.” It took about two weeks to complete writing the program, but it was definitely an attention-getter at Western.

Burman said that perhaps his favorite aspect of the robot challenge is that the kids are having so much fun that they don’t realize that they’re also learning.

“I’ve overheard conversations about pulsar sequences, ping sensors and other concepts that tell me they understand what’s happening — it’s really pretty cool,” he said.

Contact Michael Martin at mike.martin@lee.net or (608) 786-6813.