"You Want to Drive the Bot, Laura?"

"You want to drive the bot, Laura?"

"Heck, yeah!"

I'm in Mr. Bowman's classroom, at a robotics meeting, with about ten people there. His room is very grey. Grey walls, grey tables, grey equipment. But it's oddly comforting. Especially if you're a math geek.

The guy that offered to let me drive the bot hands me the controller. "Stay back while you turn it on. If it blows up it'll take your head off. Oh, and if you fully accelerate, it'll go through the wall. If you need to shut it off, hit space."

If I mess up, I'll kill someone. Great words of encouragement.

So I take the controller. The robot is about two feet high, black, and with an arm that goes up and down.

I move it around.

I aim.

I fire.

The ball I was shooting goes right in.

Another boy sitting near me snickers. "Beginner's luck." So I try again.

I move it around.

I aim.

I fire.

It goes in again.

The boy chokes. "I can't do that."

Mr. VanKirk says, "You're a natural."

And I feel like I could make any bot do anything.