Posted by tourdemars to General News at December 8, 2003 12:00 PM

Leaning over the edge of a tabletop painted to resemble the surface of Mars and fiddling with a whirring robot made of LEGOs, David Houghton appears to be at play. Then the 11-year-old Obsidian Middle School student speaks, earnestly explaining his role in a robotics tournament held at Mountain View High School on Sunday.