Last year, Danny Schneider and Clint Schulte were members of the River City Junior Robots team in the First Lego League. This year, they're ready for the "big leagues."

Clint Schulte and Danny Schneider

The two teenagers from St. Paul, Mo., are ready to join the River City Robots team. The River City Robots will be one of 45 teams in the St. Louis regional First Robotics tournament March 10-12 in St. Charles.

First Lego League teams provide elementary and middle school kids with their first introduction to robot team competition. The First Robotics program involves kids 14 and up and the robots get bigger and competitions more difficult.

(For a look at our 2005 coverage of the First Lego League competition, click here.)

First Robotics teams do more than just build and program 130-pound robots.

For instance, in this year's meet, each team will make a 3D animated "commercial" promoting the team and entry.

The St. Louis regional meet will be held at the St. Charles Family Arena. For complete details, visit www.stlouisfirst.org.

Fourteen-year-old Danny Schneider said he enjoys designing robots and "then trying to figure out how its works." He said there's a lot of trial and error in robot building.

"First, you try it out. Then, if it doesn't work, you try something else," the 8th grader at St. Paul School said.

Thirteen-year-old Clint Schulte is also an 8th grader at St. Paul School. He also likes the "problem solving" aspects of robots.

"If there's a gear that's mixed up, you have to fix it. But, the problem could be mechanical, electrical or in the programming," he said. "You can't always tell what the problem is," he added.

Aaron Heumphreus

Fourteen-year-old Aaron Heumphreus, of St. Peters, said he's a "member in training" for the River City Robots. But, he didn't take part in the First Lego League "minor leagues."

Rather, he previously has been like a "bat boy" for the River City Robots. His mother, LeAnn Heumphreus, is the president of the Robot organization. Aaron said that meant he was on the fringes of the team although he wasn't old enough to join.

He got a taste of robots last summer during a camp at Lake Superior State College in Michigan. His father, Paul, has been an electronics engineer for Boeing for 24 years.

He said he likes to build the "tetras" that are used in the competition. Those are 3-dimentional triangles that robots have to stack during the tournaments.

Katie Kullman and James Frasch

The younger kids will get some help in learning about robots from older kids like 17-year-old James Frasch of O'Fallon. The high school senior was a member of the River City Robots when it was first formed in 2003.

"I'm the only one left from that original team," he said.

He said he didn't participate in the First Lego League. But, he said, "I do have a Lego Inventor Kit at home and I've made some things with it," he said. Besides the Lego pieces, the kit includes a computer cube and motors, he said.

Frasch said he enjoys the animation part of the robot competition. He'll be working on the River City Robots' short "commercial" promoting the team.

Fifteen-year-old Katie Kullman of O'Fallon is another first-time member of the River City Robots. However, she said she likes robots and has watched previous competitions.

Asked about the attraction of robots, she said, "I like the competitiveness."

She said she'd like to be a "video game character" designer. She said she likes just about any kind of science, with one exception.

She doesn't like animal science, especially dissection experiments. "I always cry. I even cry when I walk past a meat case in the supermarket and see a rabbit for sale," she said.

Aaron Heumphreus is another team member who'd like to be a video game designer. Or, he said, "I'd like to be an engineer of some kind."

Danny Schneider said he hasn't got a definite career goal but it's likely to be in computers. "I like computers a lot," he added.

Clint Schulte said he's always liked engineering. "But, it that doesn't work, I can work for my dad," he added. Clint's father is a concrete contractor.

James Frasch also said he's likely to be an engineer. His favorite subjects in school are math and science. "You use a lot of geometry with the animation program," he said.