MICHELE NORRIS, host: The Philadelphia Phillies ace Cliff Lee has been called a pitching machine. Well, before Lee took the mound today in Philadelphia against the Milwaukee Brewers, an actual machine named Philliebot threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The occasion was science day.</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: Philliebot was built by students from the University of Pennsylvania robotics program. It's basically a modified Segway with a mechanical arm controlled by a human. At just the right moment during Philliebot's delivery, a burst of compressed carbon dioxide powers the ball toward the plate - in theory.</s>Unidentified Man: The excitement continues now with Philliebot. A robot...</s>MICHELE NORRIS, host: The Philly Phanatic, the team's giant, furry green mascot waited to catch the pitch. Philliebot wound its robotic arm up and delivered...</s>ROBERT SIEGEL, host: A weak one-hopper to the plate. And Phillies fans showed the class they're known for.</s>MICHELE NORRIS, host: But we got a defense of that weak pitch from Christian Moore, one of the University of Pennsylvania's students who built the pitching machine. He said his team toned down Philliebot's fastball so as not to hurt the Phanatic behind the plate.
A one-armed robot, called PhillieBot, threw out the first pitch at the Philadelphia Phillies game against the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday. Robert Siegel and Michele Norris have more.