“Thank you. No more testing please. Fresh circuits are needed,” Ada said.
“Ada, Li, 10, good luck today,” I said, holding their hands.
“I am ready,” Ada said.
“I’m on a swing, swinging high, about to reach the very top and now…WHOOOOOSSSSSSHHHH,” Li said, spinning around.
“Ok, technically I’m very nervous. If we have a bad score here, it’s going to be very hard to recover,” 10 said, sitting down, then standing up, then kneeling, then standing up again.
“10, you need to do twenty push-ups,” Ada suggested, making 10 laugh. “Push-ups will aid in muscle tension release.” So 10 did thirty-two push-ups, just to be sure.
I looked over at Dalk and found him staring back at me. He swung his head down and away like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t.
“Ok, ok, settle down,” said Principal Tajek into the microphone, speaker feedback squealing in everyone’s ears. “Please make sure all your core team members are all present, otherwise you can’t participate. We have randomly assigned an order. If I call your team name, please bring your robot to the stage and get started. Up first… Astro Dude…”
The crowd cheered as Astro Dude came up to the stage and kicked off the day with a magic show and some jokes about being a robot. It was pretty impressive, and I started to get worried that it wasn’t just Ukko we had to beat. The judges’ score was 18 out of 25.
After that was:
•Ozone—Ozone was android shape, big, bulky, and soft pink. For creative, Ozone sang while dancing. It was pretty clunky. 11 points.
•Tiger—narrated and mimed a battle with itself, tumbling, jumping, rolling, spinning. It was very fast and nimble, though confusing at times. 17 points.
•Shark With Lasers—was well-named, as it had a laser display telling the story of a baby shark facing the reality that it is a carnivore. The robot used a chant which the crowd joined in on, scoring extra points. 20 points.
•Deckard—another robot the team hadn’t seen yet. Android shape, two meters tall, very lean, wiry. Deckard did an odd combination of Italian opera and Irish dancing, but it was quite agile, and the crowd appreciated the creativity. 19 points.
Up next was Ukko. There were a few cheers but mostly boos from the audience. Dalk’s blame for Ada’s accident at the pre-test was meant to be completely private, so obviously everyone knew about it.
Ukko stood in the middle of the stage, facing backward, when an enormous boom rocked the room. It felt like an explosion and some people blocked their ears. The boom continued as Ukko started dancing to the beat.
“That thing must be 50 percent speakers!” yelled 10 over the noise.
“Less room for brains,” Ada said, teasing a grin from Li.
Ukko started singing a rock song about winning a race and the crowd actually started clapping along. The dance moves were pretty good, too, and Li was nodding with respect.
Ukko finished with an echoing boom and though a few people crossed their arms in protest, a solid cheer burst from the crowd.
Ukko got twenty-three points.
“Twenty-three? That’s huge. That’s not good, not good, not good at all,” 10 said, massaging her forehead.
“Need to do more push-ups?” Li asked her.
“Ada,” called Principal Tajek over the microphone, and I closed my eyes.
So much has led up to this moment. What if I could go back to that classroom so long ago, keep my mouth closed, and let the moment pass? Then I wouldn’t have Ada, Li, 10, Lucia, and all the others in my life. But I also wouldn’t be petrified.
I opened my eyes and hugged Ada.
“Good luck, you can do it,” I said, trying to sound convincing.
“I will break a leg,” Ada said.
“What? Why would you say that?” 10 said.
“It’s an expression, 10, one of hundreds I taught her,” Li said, high-fiving with Ada.
Ada climbed onto the stage and sat cross-legged in the starting position and we walked back to our station. My heart raced and my stomach flipped.
“Ada, initiate creative performance,” said 10, checking her laptop.
Ada leaned forward and started tapping on the stage, creating a slow beat. The tapping became a drumming and the noise filled the hall. It suddenly stopped as Ada’s hands pressed to the stage, and Ada’s legs flipped up into a handstand. Ada then spun on one hand, falling gracefully into a superhero landing—one knee bent to the ground, one fist on the ground. Ada waited, perfectly still, for a second as the crowd oohed.
Then Ada stood up with a torso exploding into light, like a mirror ball alive with a crisp image of short video clips. One moment the pyramids, then a polar bear, an accelerated peeling of a carrot, then a person smiling, frowning, smiling.
While this was happening, Ada started B-botting, which is when a robot breakdances. Ada spun on one hand, body off the ground, then left shoulder, right shoulder…it was fast and graceful.
To the crowd’s bewilderment, Ada also starting rapping:
My body is made of wires and chips,
Instead of blood, I flow bits,
Pulsing through 500 GIPS,
I’ve got some skills, got some wits.
No daddy, no mommy, so sad,
I’ve got family, yeah they’re mad,
They used their hands and what they had…
Didn’t need help from their rich dad.
Some gasps, laughs, and cheers rose from the audience. I saw Dalk and his team sneering and shaking their heads.
Ada was still dancing with acrobatic precision, torso playing a video of hands clapping, and the crowd joined in.
No nerves, but I’ve got circuitry,
My data is my memory,
Take some time, you’ll see,
No fee, I’m free, just be with me.
The music thumping out of Ada went mostly quiet. Just the soft whisper of a bouncing rhythm. Ada stopped dancing, strode to the front of the stage and used simple gestures to finish.
Humans, robots changing trends,
It’s not a game of us vs. thems,
I see a future, there are no ends,
I see hope, you’re all my friends.
The gentle music rolled into an echo around the hall and then shut off. I could hear Li breathing slowly and saw 10 quickly scan the crowd.
Why was everyone quiet?
Then, an explosion of cheering and applause. The hall shook.
“Yooooooooooooooooooooooooowindoooooo!” yelled Li, dancing around with 10.
Ada gave a curtsy, then a bow, then pointed at Li and did a full body rotating thumbs-up.
“Li, that was amazing. It totally worked, and everyone loved it,” I said, giving Li a huge hug.
“Let’s hope the judges feel the same way,” 10 said, as the scores were handed to Principal Tajek and he walked over to the microphone.
“Ok, scores for Ada for part one, creative. Oh, well. Interesting,” Principal Tajek said, as I closed my eyes yet again. “Twenty-five points.”
The crowd went wild, and our team went a little wilder.
“Twenty-five. Twenty-five. Twenty-five!” I yelled as I twirled Li around and around.
“Technically, that’s the first twenty-five in history. Amazing. Wonderful. Just… Just… Just… Yooooooowindooo!” 10 yelled.
I flung my arms around Ada’s shoulders, grabbed Li and 10, and pulled them into a very tight hug.
“You did it,” I said.
“We did it. That was fun,” Ada said. “Thank you, Li.”
“Oh, why thank you so much, it was a pleasure working with you,” Li said, bowing into a spin.
“We haven’t done it yet. But it’s a very good start. And Dalk, well, he must be squirming in his tight, black pants,” 10 said with an ear
-to-ear smirk.
Oh my. One breath at a time. One step at a time. Two more big steps to go. But it was certainly game on.
T-Minus Three
School Robot Competition
Day Two, Part Two: Mental
9:45 a.m.
Fifteen minutes to start of competition
“Welcome everyone to day two of the robot competition.” Mrs. D’Silva’s voice rang out over the speakers. “Please get your metallic friends into position and we can get started.”
Today the hall was set up with eight stations in a semicircle, one for each robot. At the open end stood a microphone next to a projector, spraying light onto a screen. All it said at the moment was “Day Two.”
I was trying to ignore the leftover nausea. A few minutes ago I was vomiting in the playground. Luckily, Li and 10 calmed my frazzled nerves and we ran back inside just in time.
The robots took up their positions. Ukko and Ada were directly opposite each other. Behind Ukko, I could see Dalk busy working with his team. His hair seemed extra messy today and his eyes looked red and tired. Today he looked more stressed than confident.
Maybe I was getting to him after all.
The full leaderboard was shown on the screen.
Position
Team
Day 1 Creative: Score
1
Ada
25
2
Ukko
22
3
Sharks With Lasers
20
4
Deckard
19
5
Astro Dude
18
6
Tiger
17
7
HAL 45.3
16
8
Ozone
11
“For all of you new people jumping on the wonderful robotics bandwagon, welcome. Day two is all about the brains. We will ask the robots five riddles at the same time and they must each submit their answer within sixty seconds. The responses come wirelessly into the main computer and, once the time is up, we’ll show them on the screen along with the correct answer. Each correct solution is worth five points and the riddles get harder and harder as we go along,” Mrs. D’Silva announced. “There is also an app for this if you want to play along. Is everyone ready for the first riddle?”
The crowd chorused a “yeah” and some of the robots gave exuberant gestures of confidence.
“Riddle number one…”
If you could see my face,
You would know that I’m
Handing you a gift
You will love in time.
The riddle is displayed on a timer counting down from sixty seconds. Exclamations of glee ripple through the crowd as they work it out.
“All answers are locked in,” Mrs. D’Silva said. “And the answer is…clock!” She then displayed all the robots’ answers and they all got it right. Five points across the board.
“Riddle two…”
Don’t go looking, you can’t see me,
But I make it hard to climb or throw a ball.
The bigger you get, the harder I work,
I’m a force and I’ll make you fall.
“Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…five, four, three, two, one! With all answers locked in, this one is of course…gravity! Oh, Sharks With Lasers didn’t get the correct answer. Ba bowww. Well done to the rest of you clever processors.”
“Two for two, a good start, team,” 10 said.
I heard 10 but was too nervous to do anything but make too many click click click noises with my tongue.
Ada turned around and gave a circular motion thumbs-up.
“Let’s step it up a notch,” said Mrs. D’Silva. “Riddle three…”
I helped build early computers,
And I help clean your home,
Some people say I’m nothing,
In space I’m all alone.
Wow, that’s much harder. I certainly don’t know it.
I covered my eyes and made small groaning noises. After the minute counted down, Mrs. D’Silva unveiled the answer to the third riddle: a vacuum.
Sharks With Lasers got it wrong again, as well as Tiger and Ozone. Ada, Ukko, Deckard, and HAL 45.3 answered the first three correctly.
Li leaped onto my lap after a shriek of relief to the ceiling.
“This is like an eight-way penalty shoot-out,” 10 said, with nervous laughter. “We’re three for three.” Ada’s torso displayed a graphic of a soccer billowing the back of a net and fireworks spraying.
“Now it’s really super-duper level time. Riddle four,” Mrs. D’Silva said.
I’m fast,
Love mirrors,
I bounce,
All colors.
The hall filled with looks of strained confusion. I flicked between Ada, putting my head between my legs, looking at the roof, and then back at Ada. 10 seemed to enjoy the stress, crouching down and watching all the robots processing it. Li was taking photos, though the robots weren’t really doing anything.
“Time’s up,” called Mrs. D’Silva. “Lock in your answers. This is where we separate the ENIACs from the 486s. Ok, all locked in. The answer…to riddle four…is…the following word…”
“Just say it!” I yelled out, much to everyone’s surprise, then I hid my head under a towel.
“Whoa, maybe a little too much tension in the room. Without further ado, the answer is…light! And here are the robots’ answers,” Mrs. D’Silva said.
I heard muffled cheers, but I still had my head covered with my fingers in my ears.
“What happened? Don’t tell me. Ok, tell me. No, don’t tell me,” I said.
Sitting on the chair, looking at the ground, I saw Li lying down, shimmying into my view with two thumbs-up. I stood up, shuffled over Li and gave a big fist pump to the sky.
“Eeeeeeee,” I yelled, and then pulled back. I hated it when I squealed. I at least wanted three right, but what I secretly wanted was four. I hugged Li and 10 so tight, our heads hit and we gave a joint “Owww.”
Ada leaned forward and looked out between spread legs at me, and I turned around and did the same. Lucia was beaming with pride. Dasan had taken about six hundred photos and videos from a phone and two cameras.
Ukko was the only other bot to get it right and Dalk was half-cheering, not happy we were keeping it so close.
The final question was always a combination of cryptic, complex, and obscure. It had never been answered correctly in the history of the competition.
“Here we are, folks,” Mrs. D’Silva said. “The toughest of the toughest. Let’s roll…for riddle five, to add to the tension, each robot will lock in their answer, and then reveal them one at a time.”
“Riddle five.”
There is no end to this traveler…
Everyone waited for her to continue.
“That’s it. Sixty seconds starts now,” said Mrs. D’Silva.
“Huh?” asked 10. “Is that really a riddle? It’s more of a statement. I’ve never seen one like it. Well, at least no one is going to get it.”
“That can’t be right? How do you even start?” I asked. “Li, do you know what it is?”
“This is way out of my most purple thoughts, but I love
it,” Li said.
“Well, let’s hope that Ada loves it, too,” I said.
The crowd chanted “Five, four, three, two, one.” You could almost hear the robots sigh with relief.
“Ok, locked in, we are going to go from bottom to top to see who got this right,” said Mrs. D’Silva. “Up first, Ozone, answer, Marco Polo…incorrect. HAL 45.3, answer, orbit…incorrect, but nice try. Tiger, answer, walking…incorrect. Astro Dude, answer, ‘I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself’…uhhh, ok, that’s incorrect and I’m pretty sure you just did. Sharks With Lasers, answer, energy…incorrect. Ukko, answer, the equator…”
I saw Dalk close his eyes and ball his hands into fists.
“Incorrect,” Mrs. D’Silva confirmed with gusto. Dalk kicked a chair. “And last but certainly not least, we have Ada, answer, wheel…”
10, Li, and I held hands and tried to breathe.
“Correct. It’s correct. For the first time ever, we have a five-for-five, twenty-five-point robot. Amazing!” Mrs. D’Silva sang out, dancing from foot to foot.
The crowd went nuts. Lucia, Dasan, and the team in the grandstands jumped up and flung high-fives, hugs, and “yeahs” around with reckless abandon. On the hall floor, we picked up Ada in our arms and spun around cheering.
“Yes, it was brilliant. My circuits are overwhelmed,” Ada said, back of hand to forehead.
“You don’t get dizzy, Ada. I programmed that!” 10 said, laughing at Ada’s cheekiness.
Our celebration was interrupted by a loud crash. I saw Dalk disappearing through the slammed doors.
He is really losing it. I guess he’s never been behind like this before. I mean, underneath all that black clothing, he’s still a kid.
“Ok, ok, here is the score update after day two. It is very, very good,” Principal Tajek said, trying very, very hard to be as energetic as Mrs. D’Silva, but failing. Though with everyone staring at the screen and the noise, he may have felt otherwise.
Creative
She's Building a Robot Page 10
