High school students from around the state competed Saturday in the gym of Zeeland West High School during the West Michigan Robotics Invitational, sponsored by Grand Valley State University.

Students from GVSU’s Padnos College of Engineering mentored the 24 teams that competed at the regional competition.

More than 300 people attended the event, which was hosted by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).

“Teams are given an objective to complete within a six-week period given a certain set of materials,” said Paul Plotkowski, dean of the engineering school.

This year’s winning alliance included the Dragons from Swartz Creek, the Tech Vikes from Hopkins and Technical Difficulties from Chelsea.

Each team is given the same set of materials, including a circuit board, metal, screws, bolts and wheels. The teams receive the package in the mail and from then have six weeks to come up with an independently-produced functioning robot.

Functioning is usually not the problem, said competitor Josh Dunston, a 16-year-old junior at Forest Hills Northern High School.

“Most teams can field a functioning robot but what the hard part is, is making the robot capable when the game is on the line,” Dunston said.

The game starts with the manually-controlled robots in the middle of what resembles a basketball court with many metal poles sticking out of a wall instead of the traditional basket.

The robots are thrown inflatable tubes in the shapes of triangles, circles and squares, each having a different point value. The robots then grab the tubes and try to get them on the rungs. More points are awarded for having all three types of tubes on a single pole, with the highest poles being worth more.

“Winning is not the most important aspect of these competitions,” Plotkowski said. “While everyone enjoys winning we really emphasize values like being a gracious competitor.”

This competition was part of the pre-season schedule, which gives students who are just learning how the game operates a chance to hone their skills and practice before the official season begins in January.

“I like showing the new students how we operate our equipment and what the strategy behind our game is,” said Jessie Beck, a Forest Hills Northern senior.

Plotkowski said GVSU supports FIRST and other, similar programs because technology is important in America, adding that robotics is merely shifting how manufacturing occurs, not the concepts behind it.

“Instead of the low-paying manufacturing jobs that could be replaced by robots, the jobs are shifting to highly-skilled jobs in order to create and maintain the robotics that are in place of humans,” Plotkowski said.

Creston High School freshman Jacob Wilcox said his reason for joining the FIRST program is simple: money.

Plotkowski said robotics is one of the higher-paying engineering degrees and the outlook for the market is good.

“I don’t want to play the video games,” Wilcox said. “I want to design the machines that make the video games.”

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