Hundreds of work hours and a lot of sweat and mental effort went into the creation of "Spartacus," but the Corvallis High School Spartan Robotics Team would have to agree that it was worth it. For the first time since its inception in 2001, the team won the Pacific Northwest regional championship with its robot, only the second Oregon team ever to do so.

That means the 22 team members and their five adult mentors will be heading to the national championship in Atlanta in mid-April - that is, if they can raise the $20,000 needed to get them there. Right now, the team has $100 left over in its travel budget.

"It's quite an accomplishment," said lead mentor Al Bailey, but he acknowledged it's also quite a challenge to raise that much money in the space of a few weeks.

Bailey believes the team has a very strong chance of actually winning the championship and is determined to find a way to get to Atlanta.

"We've got a highly competitive bot," Bailey said.

The team will be knocking on business doors in the next week, looking for sponsors, and may hold an auction, a car wash or other event to help generate money.

The robotics team is funded by a variety of private sources as well as getting financial support from team parents. The competitions are held through FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization focused on offering technology and science experience for high school students.

Each January, teams across the country are given a challenge, which is different each year. The teams have six weeks to design, build and test their robots, which have to complete a series of tasks during competition. This year's challenge was called "Rack 'N' Roll" and involved forming alliances with two other teams. Allied robots teamed up and attempted to place colored circles in connected rows on a central tower while trying to keep opposing teams from putting their own circles on the tower.

After winning a series of qualifying matches, the CHS team and its two allies won the regional championship. The Spartans have another match in Davis, Calif., in late March before they head to the finals, but are qualified to go with or without winning at Davis.

FIRST offers scholarship dollars to some of its participants. Girls are especially encouraged to participate as part of a drive to increase the number of female engineers.

Tina Schnell is pit boss for the CHS crew, one of three young women on the team. She's been trying to recruit more girls, but it hasn't been easy.

Schnell said this year's robot had far fewer problems and spent less time in the pit than last year.

"It's a lot sturdier design this year," she said. "This year it worked a lot better."

Other than a broken bumper, nothing serious happened to the bot.

The CHS team focused its design on defense and on two platforms used to lift up the two allied robots, which gains the team bonus points. Tim Lykins used the computer program Inventor to design the robot, and once the blueprints were perfected, the team set to work creating the real bot.

"We put the whole thing together in a week," Lykins said.

"This has been the best part of high school so far," team president Andy Parker said. "We work with friends on the team. We have a lot of fun as we're learning."

Bot driver and mechanic Yi Li agreed. He compared his time on the team to an internship.

"It's been one of the most valuable experiences in high school," Li said. "It gave me a preview of what the real world is like."

Anyone interested in making a donation to the team can send a contribution care of CHS Robotics Team 997, Corvallis High School, 1400 N.W. Buchanan Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330.

To meet the robotics team and find more out about the FIRST program, contact mentor Al Baily at albaily@comcast.net.