Last year, the South Park High School team was "pumped" for the BOT IQ competition, with its student driver shaking with nerves.

Little wonder.

"The entire school year, we were putting our heart and soul into that robot," said Matt Miller, a 17-year-old South Park sophomore. "You turn on the switch and sit there and pray that it works."

With even more heart and soul this year, the battling-bot games are ready to roll.

Forty-eight teams will compete from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday in the preliminary round of the fourth annual Southwestern Pennsylvania BOT IQ 2009 competition at California University of Pennsylvania.

The top 16 finishers will square off at 10 a.m. April 25 at Century III Mall in West Mifflin until a champion is crowned. The events are free to the public.

But the real competition began churning months ago when students began getting their bots -- and in some cases, their careers -- moving.

Teachers, BOT IQ officials, but especially students say the competition makes learning fun. Not only do they design their bots, buy the materials, power and wire them, they also must create motorized weaponry -- wedges, hammers, spikes, grinders, augurs and propellers. The idea is to make bots that wage battle inside an enclosed arena, reminiscent of the BattleBot television show that aired from 2000 to 2002.

Each bot depends on physics, artful design, craftsmanship and a spaghetti of electronics to give it a chance at the top prize.

"It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too," said Steve Livergood, a machine tool technology instructor and team sponsor at Parkway West Career and Technology Center in North Fayette.

"The best thing is the joy when a kid uses the remote for the first time and the robot takes off. It's the smile on their faces that say: 'We did it.' "

The regional competition began in 2006 with six teams. Plum High School won the past two years. But each year, teams refine designs and add voltage and creativity to make their bots and weapons ever faster and more powerful.

Each bot must abide by a weight limit of 15 pounds. Safety measures are required, and each team must turn in extensive paperwork to document its machine's creation and specifications.

Bouts between battling bots last three minutes, with the goal of disabling the opponent. If neither is stopped, judges declare a winner much the way judges decide a boxing match that ends without a knockout.

Last year, Plum's bot won when it moved slightly at the end of the final bout, while its competitor was still.

Some teams began planning over the summer, while most began in the fall to outline strategy, distribute workload among members, acquire motors, batteries and supplies, and work with industrial sponsors.

The competition emphasizes teamwork, planning, patience and the ability to avoid procrastination.

This year's teams come from technology schools, high schools and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood.

There, technology teacher John Foust has worked to explain mechanical and electronic principles to deaf students, and his team of five has produced a sleek, thin bot with a fast, weighted propeller. It operates on either side in case it's flipped over and uses a propeller to keep it from settling on its side.

South Park uses computer-aided design to refine a shape that's thinner with curved corners and features stronger motors and more battery power than last year. A hammer, so powerful it cracked its own shaft last year, now has a spider coupling to prevent the shaft from cracking. Students also installed a wedge to flip over competitors.

David Bailey, a South Park technology teacher and team sponsor, said plans began over the summer, with students meeting several times a week after school to design and build.

While the focus is fun, the competition tries to mirror the manufacturing process, which requires planning, development, budgeting, building and testing, along with a strategy to defeat competitors.

BOT IQ safety expert Gregory Chambers -- director of corporate compliance at Oberg Industries Inc., a precision manufacturer in Buffalo, Butler County -- said the competition "is not the old science competition" where dad and mom make a volcano for their child.

"This sets a good tone of what advanced manufacturing is all about," Mr. Chambers said.

Students, he said, get assistance from industrial sponsors to create products that can compete in the marketplace -- or, in this case, the arena. Planning is paramount, but students also must turn plans into reality.

Four years of this "smart sport" have created interscholastic rivalries that match those in traditional sports, Mr. Chambers said. Some schools go on to compete in state and national competitions.

"It's like NASCAR with a lot of activity in the pit with 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kids running around with soldering guns and power tools," Mr. Chambers said.

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind for teams rushing to get the electronics right and their bots under the weight limit. They also must meet safety guidelines and complete paperwork, which is included in the scoring.

In addition, the driver has to have time to practice and develop offensive and defensive strategies.

"One of the first things is the teamwork aspect," said David DiPasquale, a teacher at Shaler Area High School, which will field two teams. "The kids come in and don't know each other and form a team and find their role on the team."

Mr. DiPasquale said the competition at Shaler sheds light on the whole manufacturing process for students, with plenty of nerves, strategy, action and quick thinking added in.

"It's cool to see all the designs and creativity," he said.

Especially before the metal begins to fly.