Robots briefly took over the McLeod Center this past weekend. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition brought high schoolers from around the world to compete regionally with robots they have been building since January.

This year’s competition had a video game theme, complete with a Minecraft-themed scale in the center of the playing field. The objective was to gather “power cubes” — large yellow boxes kept in a certain area — with their robots and place them onto their team’s control switches, which were placed on either end of the scale. Doing so earned them points.

According to the event program, they are an international organization that hopes to build teamwork, gracious professionalism, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) literacy, and creativity and collaboration within players that attend. FIRST also sponsors over $50 million in scholarships for students in the FIRST program. They are sponsored by brands like 3M, Google and Rockwell Collins, to name a few, according to the event program.

This regional competition is the only one in Iowa; consequently, the competition brought in 58 teams, including global competitors from Turkey and Brazil. Regionally, there were five teams from the Cedar Valley, including teams from Waterloo and Cedar Falls.

The competition ran from Thursday until Saturday, with over 1,500 students filling the McLeod Center and parts of the UNI-Dome.

Team Under Control, from Novo Hamburgo, Brazil won the competition. The team previously won the Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors in FIRST’s 2016 competition. Paula Miiller, a student on the team, has enjoyed her experience competing with robots.

“It is a really fun way to learn, and I have made a lot of friends,” she said.

Miiller has been designing and building these sophisticated machines for three years. She said her favorite part of robotics competition is getting to meet other students and make friends.

“Although it is a competition, it feels like being with friends and learning together,” Miiller said.

The competition certainly builds a sense of community between competitors. Dressing up was encouraged, and the STEM students showed their creativity with outfits, including lab coats full of team buttons, black and green tutus and turkey costumes. This spread to the judges and team leaders, with Judge Josh winning “Most Tricked Out Judge” for his brightly colored costume, featuring a cape and elaborate hat. One team even remixed Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” to “Get up and Build with Me!” 

In the award ceremony, students showed their sportsmanship by cheering for each other while many teams won smaller awards like “Judge’s Choice,” going to Team Swartdogs from Cedar Falls. Many teams won similar awards, including evaluations of creative design, engineering thought and best safety design.

UNI students in attendance enjoyed the competition, as well. Brandt Culbertson, senior Interactive Digital Studies major, said, “It’s exciting. I wish I had been into this more [in high school].”

Winners of this competition will go onto the Detroit championship in April.