Take a boxful of metal parts, electronics and a computer and build a robot capable of picking up an inner tube and hanging it on a metal rack -- without human control.

Sound easy?

That's the challenge high school students in Helena and across Montana will rise to over the next six weeks. A Capital High School team, which includes one member from Helena High, began tackling the problem Saturday morning, along with students from Fort Benton, C.M. Russell, Simms, Butte, Bozeman, Darby and Billings West high schools.

Around the globe, 130,000 students took up the task as part of a competition, called For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST.

Students and adults alike said the program is a fun, creative activity which blends math and science with good sportsmanship and teamwork. In the decade since its creation, FIRST has convinced some students to pursue career paths in engineering and technology, and taught all contestants valuable skills, Capital High physics and biology teacher John Miller said.

"Kids learn ... how to solve a problem with a limited budget and limited time, working with others," he said.

"It's engineering, science and math, but it's very creative," said Donna Minton, the deputy director at Montana State University's Space Grant Consortium. She's also FIRST's assistant regional director. "There's not a right answer."

Each team has until Feb. 19 to take their supplies and build a robot, which will then be used in round-robin tournaments this spring. Capital High's squad will compete in Denver in late March.

Students, college-age mentors, teachers and parents gathered in the auditorium Saturday to catch their first glimpse of the challenge via a NASA telecast. At the competitions various teams will form three-member alliances, which then go head-to-head with other groups. Each team will compete multiple times, with different partners.

For the first 15 seconds, the robots must autonomously place plastic blue and red inner tubes on a large, three-level metal rack, using only information gleaned from sensors and their programming. Then students take the controls and guide more tubes onto the rack, which has eight limbs on each level, for the next two minutes.

The teams also can block their opponents' robots with their own, and use black inner tubes to break up their opponents' rows and columns. The objective is to score points by placing as many inner tubes as possible in succession around the circular rack. Think tic-tac-toe without the diagonals.

In the waning seconds of the contest, teams can score bonus points by getting their robots off the floor -- either by driving onto another or being lifted by a teammate's machine.

The extracurricular robotics programs at schools across the state may have limited time as well, because a three-year, $300,000 NASA grant runs out after this year's round of contests, and an effort by former U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., to secure Montana schools $1 million is now uncertain.

Proponents like Miller and Minton hope state legislators can fill the gap.

"Statewide support would really make a difference," Minton said.

They invited first lady Nancy Schweitzer to Saturday's kickoff. She said she supports the program and would like to see it expanded to more and younger children, who can use Lego robot kits to learn the basics. Schweitzer was unsure whether state legislators would consider funding it this session.

Miller also said he hopes corporations in Montana will expand support for the program. Each team, he said, needs a minimum of $10,000 each year to compete.

Capital High senior Josh Kuhn, who's in his third year of FIRST and heads the school's science and robotics club, said he hopes legislators will remember the budding engineers and computer programmers at Montana high schools.

"It's ... awesome," he said of FIRST. "It's that great of an experience."

While engineering, mechanics and computer technology may be at the core of the competition, sportsmanship and cooperation are at the heart. Kuhn regularly e-mails kids across the country he's met at the contests and participates in online forums, where students strategize. He said teams trade tips and work together.

"The great thing about the competition is that it's a really friendly community," Kuhn said.

Minton said the contest's highest award takes sportsmanship into account. At the national championship last April, she saw the blue team give the red squad a part needed to fix a robot before the final match. The red team won.

"These kids are really, really high-character and they do great things," she said.

Miller said FIRST is an excellent way for kids to make connections with peers, and with the CEOs of major technology and engineering firms. Two years ago, one of his students sat down for a chat with a NASA space shuttle engineer.

Students said the activity is decidedly less than "geeky," because it can involve welding and machining. Miller said team members who may never have used a power drill get a hands-on experience.

Robots attract all kinds, the kids said.

"It transcends cliques," Billings West student Stephen Asay said.

He joined because he "thought it'd be pretty cool, a good learning experience."

Capital senior PJ Kolnik said his wrestling coach was surprised to hear he'd be spending his Saturday thinking robotics, but it was a no-brainer for him.

"I've always been a real sucker for designing and building things," he said.

Larry Kline can be reached at 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com.