According to team advisor Charles DeVore, what inspired KNBC to come to Clark was the recent success of NASA’s Mars landing. Knowing that Clark is a science and technology magnet, they wanted to find out more about what the school has been doing technologically.

While cameraman Tom Bravo set up his camera and reporter Kim Baldonado prepared her notepad, the Robotics team checked each wire and bolt in Heather, the robot that won second place in the 2003 Regional Competitions in Los Angeles and Phoenix.

After the quick checkup, the team set up a demonstration of Heather’s capabilities. Controlled by senior David Black, Heather moved forward and backwards and spun in circles without any visible problems. Black also illustrated Heather’s versatility by showing her ability to move her arms up and down.

The team then had a mission to fulfill for the reporters: Bravo and Baldonado both wanted Heather to place each stool in the room under the table, a task she completed successfully.

Bravo said that he has never seen any robot, especially one made by a group of high school students, as amazing as Heather.
 
After having filmed Heather’s abilities, Bravo wanted to experiment from a different angle. He placed the camera on the robot and asked Black to control it slowly around the room. “Bravo’s idea of getting a different camera angle is interesting,” said senior Artia Moghbel. “If this is shown on television, the public could experience Heather’s point of view as she strolls along the classroom.”

After the second demonstration, Baldonado interviewed Black and Moghbel and juniors Harish Venkitaramanan and Jae Park. According to Venkitaramanan, building Heather was not a simple task for the Robotics team. They often spent about 16 hours weekly, occasionally staying overnight to work.

According to senior Punar Sikka, being covered by the Channel 4 News was the most remarkable event that has happened in Robotics history.

On Jan. 10 the team spent 11 hours at school strategizing for the construction of a new robot for the 2004 competition. They have been holding fundraisers such as dinners to raise enough money to purchase all the equipment needed. Help from DeVore, Principal Doug Dall and mentors from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and GCC will make construction of the 2004 robot possible.

Robotics’ appearance on television was not the first time Clark students have appeared in the media. Two years ago, CBS 2 came to Ira West’s 11th grade history class to cover students preparing to become lawyers. In Oct. 2003 KPCC-FM came to Nick Doom’s first period AP Government class to review students’ opinions regarding the California governor recall election.