Members of the James Campbell High School robotics team eagerly show up on campus during their Christmas vacation to answer questions from a reporter. When the interview is over, they sweet talk one of their teachers into opening the classroom so they can work their robots some more.

In just three years, the kids from 'Ewa Beach have gone from robotics rookies to international competitors, bringing home a slew of awards. They are known to stay after school tinkering on their robots until the campus closes at 5:30 p.m. They confess to staying even later than that, actually setting off the burglar alarm when they opened the class door to leave. Sometimes they bring their robots home to practice and problem solve over the weekend. There have been hours of last-minute fixes in hotel rooms the night before a tournament.

"Nobody sleeps the night before a competition," says Alisa Bender, one of the teachers who help chaperone the 13-member team of self-described "nerds."

"We love our robots," says senior Ashleigh Castillo. Her fellow team members laugh, but they unanimously concur. Yup, they love 'em.

They also adore their coach, D. Scott Schaefers, retired Navy chief petty officer who served more than 20 years in the nuclear submarine division and who came to the school in 2006 through the Troops to Teaching program. Schaefers was hired to teach math but also took up the challenge of starting Campbell's robotics team. When Schaefers conference calls from his Christmas vacation to check in with them, they gleefully shout, "Hi, Dad!"

"He's the heart of our team. He's the glue," says senior Brenden Scott. They even named two of their winning robots after him.

In an e-mail interview, Schaefers said, "I think of my space at Campbell where the team meets each day after school as a safe place for them to be themselves and explore all the possibilities science and technology has for them to express themselves."

For the uninitiated, high school robotics competitions are as complex and insiderish as varsity debate or the plot of "Lost." The basics are deceivingly simple: design and build a robot to accomplish a small task, like picking up foam balls and depositing them into a goal in a fixed amount of time. But beyond that, it gets crazy complicated.

"When the season begins, the robots are really simple, just an arm and claw, but over time the robots evolve," Scott says. The team has worked with things like sensors that track lines or ultrasonic devices that can tell how close the robot is to a wall, even pneumatics that move parts of the robot with air pressure cylinders. During a competition, a designated "driver" controls the robot with a remote device as they race to complete the task. The robots are also programmed to move autonomously for a minute, and that part of the tournament is especially difficult.

The Campbell team, called Sabertron, describes a world in which competition is fierce but camaraderie is strong. They joke that they'll hide parts from one another while trying to build better robots than their teammates. "It's a competition before we even get to the competition," senior Destiny Norbrey says.

But at the tournaments, they have each other's backs. They have other teams' backs, too. They collaborate with competitors, share ideas and even speak fondly of a California crew with "unstoppable" robots who have become their dear friends. During a recent tournament, Scott went over to an intermediate school team that was entering its first robot and helped the younger kids trouble shoot.

"They had a robot with a simple arm with small spatula that would basically pick up the game piece and fling it," he said. The senior helped the younger kids improve their design and make the robot faster and better able to score.

Some of the team members are designated "scouters" who act as emissaries, talking up their robots to other teams and coming back with information on the competitors.

"Some teams make fliers about their robots that they just pass out," Castillo says, "but how are you going to make friends like that?"

The Campbell team is sponsored by the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, BAE Systems, Hawaiian Airlines and Disney, which gave the team a $25,000 grant for supplies. NASA supported the fledgling team by paying their registration fees to tournaments for their first two years.

Most of the Sabertron team members are seniors. Some plan to go into robotics engineering or related fields. Bernadette Ben plans a career in nursing, but is certain her background in robotics will be an asset. They all say they want to continue the sport next year but no college in Hawai'i has a robotics team. Jeremy Huff says he's going to try to start one when he enters the University of Hawai'i-Mänoa next fall.

Next for Sabertron is co-hosting a tournament with Nänäkuli High School and getting ready for the VEX World Championship competition in Dallas in May. Two years ago, they made it to the quarterfinals. So are they one of the best teams in the state?

"I would say we're the most unexpected team because we're from 'Ewa Beach," says Ben. Her teammates burst into raucous laughter, but again, they all agree.

Schaefers puts it this way: "Many times I think it is surprising to other schools that a team with so few years' experience doing robotics can win at a competition against schools with much more experience on island, but, even more so that we are able to win back on the Mainland against teams from Southern California for instance, where they have never heard of 'Ewa Beach."

For more information on Campbell's robotics team, go to www.Sabertron2476.com.