Posted by tourdemars to General News at December 7, 2003 12:00 PM

Amid the Top-40 music blaring from a speaker and more than 35 people cheering on the other side of the room, seven Kearney Middle School students stood up on the bleachers and yelled directions to their two teammates. It didn't help. Their teammates, in charge of guiding an autonomous robot through obstacles on a simulated Mars surface, heard too many conflicting messages. The team's second score was lower than its first.