Hoping to inspire a new crop of engineers, many educators are turning to robotics, holding design competitions, and challenging classmates to outdo one another in a battle for technical supremacy.

At the Lummi Nation School in Bellingham, Wash., for example, a group of eighth-grade science students recently worked with volunteers at Western Washington University to build remote-controlled robots used to explore the ocean.

At the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering in Stamford, Conn., high school students build electronic cars and other mechanical devices as part of an introductory class on the elements of robotics.

And later this month, in Atlanta, more than 20,000 people will gather in the Georgia Dome for the finals of the 2007 FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is an annual event that brings K-12 students from every state and at least three countries together to compete in a series of robotics challenges.

Part Super Bowl, part high school science fair, the event takes winning teams from 37 national and international regional events and pits them against one another in a bid for the best student-made robot. Some 9,000 students from 1,300 different teams will square off in three separate competitions to determine which team has what it takes to win.

When it comes to engaging students in technical disciplines, few activities are a bigger draw than robotics. "Robotics brings a real sizzle to engineering," said Niel Tebbano, vice president of operations for Project Lead the Way, a national initiative that offers eight high-school-level courses designed to expose students to the rigor of engineering before they reach college. "It's something that's always been very appealing to young people."

Robots in the classroom

But robots aren't just tools for technical education. When used effectively, some experts say, they can be important cogs in the learning process, providing a new way of thinking for students, while helping to illustrate abstract concepts that--before the integration of such devices into the classroom--had proved difficult to teach.

As the chief executive officer of Valiant Technology, a U.K.-based engineering and design firm that builds robots for use by teachers and students, Dave Catlin is an advocate. Catlin's company reportedly has sold more than a quarter of a million of its Roamer robots to schools.

Catlin says he hopes to build on the success of his original Roamer robot with the upcoming release of Roamer Too, a sleek new version of the original device that integrates voice capabilities and other features for a more interactive user experience. Already being demonstrated in the U.K., Catlin said, Roamer Too should be available in the U.S. this summer.

Resembling an oversized mushroom cap on wheels, the plastic, dome-shaped devices reportedly are being used in classrooms to do everything from impart simple mathematics concepts, to engage developmentally disabled learners. In some cases, Catlin says, schools even are using the robots as mechanical guinea pigs, giving aspiring engineers a chance to dissect them in the name of practical knowledge. What's more, he says, at less than $150 per machine, depending on accessories and software, the Roamer likely won't break the bank where school budgets are concerned.