HAIFA: The gold ball bounced forlornly downward. The stapler stuck to the ground. But the big, black boot made it to the top, winning the annual Technion university robot contest — a scientific competition with a sense of humour.

The event, TechnoBrain, brings out the inventive and creative talents of students, who try to fulfil a tongue-in-cheek robotic chore with appropriate technical and design flair.

Each team designs and builds a robot that has to perform a specific job. The designated task, which changes every year, is announced three months before the contest and is often based on a spring holiday or event.

This year, in honour of Israel's Independence Day on May 3, each robot entered had to climb a thin, 30-m-high rope that extended from the ground to the top of the university's Amado Architecture Building.

Once at the top — and not a moment before — the robot had to unfurl and raise a flag to commemorate Israeli independence. Each robot had only one minute to complete the task.

The competition was divided into two age groups: high school students and university students.

Although the contestants who built the 18 competing robots abided by the rules prohibiting human intervention once each machine was set in motion, some of them did jump up and down a lot, while others pulled their hair or called out encouraging comments to their creations.

The winners

A robot named `Mechanical Jesus: The Messiah Strikes Back' won the competition among the high schoolers. The robot's 16-year-old builders, Yotan Rossenblat and Tomer Fridel were placed second last year.

Despite passionate creators and interesting designs, this year's competition got off to a rocky start when the first eight mechanical contestants were unable to ascend more than a few metres.

A robot that resembled a giant stapler never got off the ground, and another robot flung itself straight into the unforgiving wall of the building and then fell motionless to the ground.

The sleeper entry of the day was Rafael and Ruhama Fadida's `Mongol Fair.' Although it did not make the highest ascent of the competition, the enormous, shiny-gold, balloon-shaped robot made a respectable showing and won a special prize for creativity.

Peleg Harel, 30, a mechanical engineering student at Technion, won the 10,000 shekel (about Rs. 97,900) first prize in the university section for the second year in a row. — AP

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