ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Robotics teams from across the U.P. are competing at Escanaba High School this weekend.
The FIRST in Michigan Robotics District Competition kicked off Friday morning with opening ceremonies and qualifying matches. Teams put their robots to the test with this year’s game, which required the robots to scoop up foam balls and shoot as many of them as possible into a goal.
“We designed the robot around the game and around the game pieces,” said Abraham Perryman, a member of the Escanaba Robomos. “We do four-hour meetings three or four times a week. I’ve done my fair share of 12- to 14-hour days this week setting up for this competition.”
The top teams will move on to the state-level competition next weekend. No matter their ranking, every team will leave the event with valuable life experience, new robotics knowledge, and important STEM skills.
“It’s not about winning; we come here to have fun,” Perryman said. “We come here to show off the best robot we think we can build. It’s all just a nice atmosphere here. When you put time into something and you love it, it just ends up being really fun. It’s about bringing all these people together and making something real happen.”
“There’s a little competitiveness, but we all keep gracious professionalism as our core value,” said event coordinator Camree Bonifas. “We support each other, we help each other when we need it, and we continue doing this for the entire competition. It’s really entertaining to watch the robots go and see all the teams interact. We usually host anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 people here in this school, and it’s a great experience.”
The competition is open to the public, and matches will continue on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Concessions are being sold inside the building, and Debacker Family Dairy and Express Coffee have food trucks stationed outside.
Click here to learn more about FIRST Robotics.
