At California University of Pennsylvania, metal crashed, parts flew and smoke and sparks rose, as 15-pound robots equipped with eggbeaters, spinning drums, propellers, spikes and circular saw blades competed for battlefield dominance.

At the University of Pittsburgh, more robots explored lunar landscapes and completed exploratory space missions, guided by human pilots in a combination pep rally, costume party and shop class.

Robots ruled the weekend at two major technology competitions aimed at making physics, science and technological know-how interesting to the region's high school students. Success in both required teamwork, planning, hard work and skill to produce a competitive machine.

The two-day Southwestern Pennsylvania BotsIQ competition, held at California University in Washington County, featured bully robots with eggbeaters spinning at 45,000 rpms that sent opponents airborne during three-minute bouts. Sponsored by the National Tooling and Machining Association, the contest strives to prepare students for jobs in high-tech manufacturing.

At Pitt's Petersen Events Center in Oakland, 37 more student teams from five states participated in the regional FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST -- an acronym for the words "For Inspiration, Recognition, Science and Technology" -- was founded by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway one-person transporter and the first portable insulin pump.

BotsIQ competitors followed strict safety and technical requirements while creating "bots" that battled, gladiator-style, inside a glass-enclosed arena. At the university's Natali Peformance Center, pit crews wearing team jerseys -- "Tech Dawgs," "War Machine" and the less menacing "Herbert," -- prepared their robots for war with powerfully creative weaponry.

The 48 teams competed Friday and yesterday for seeded spots in four groups which will go on to the "Sweet 16" regional championship April 25 at Century III Mall in West Mifflin.

A team from Bloomsburg High School in Columbia County, which twice has won the national BotsIQ competition, was to have challenged Plum High School -- last year's national champion -- yesterday for the top spot in their group. But Plum's two teams opted to postpone the clash until the championship round next month.

Teams worked on their robots through the entire school year, with some getting an early start last summer. Each participating school received $800 for parts and supplies and a $200 remote control, with industrial sponsors providing assistance.

Almost 1,000 students and 120 volunteers took part in the FIRST challenge, dubbed "Lunacy," which featured decidedly less martial, game-playing robots. Those teams had six weeks to raise funds for and build lunar robots that could travel on their own on a low-friction, moon-like surface, collect rubber moon rocks to earn points, and take remote-control directions.

The 24 teams that made it to the semifinals worked in three-member alliances during two-minute matches. An alliance needed to win two of its three matches to stay in competition.

Cheering and applause during both competitions rivaled that heard during Pitt basketball games. Most teams wore matching T-shirts, and some further cemented their identities with spiked hair or matching wigs.

"It's like taking a physics course, a geometry course, an economics course and a leadership course," said Otto Linsuain,an assistant professor of physics at Penn State's Greater Allegheny campus and advisor to Gateway High School's "Quasics" team. The team's name combines the words "quantum" and "physics."

Lance Barch, a junior at St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, helped construct the metal frame for his team's "Spartan Robotics" robot.

"I'd like to go to medical school and become a surgeon -- which is like rebuilding the human body," he said.

"This is where it all pays off," sophomore Justyn Merriman said after his "Rocket Sock-em Robots" team from Maplewood High School in Cortland, Ohio, won a match. "It's like doing a lot of work on a report, turning it in and getting a good grade."