High school students came to Grand Valley State University’s Fieldhouse Arena from March 20-21 to compete in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics District Competition.

More than 40 teams from across the state participated in this year’s game “Recycle Rush,” where the robots designed attempted to score points by stacking totes and capping them with recycling containers. All game elements were made of recyclable materials.

The teams had six weeks to design and build robots for the competition with hopes that the students would take away hands-on experience in robotic-related challenges and creation. Winners will move on to the state championships, held from April 8-11 at the DeltaPlex Arena in Grand Rapids. The national competition will take place in St. Louis, Missouri on April 22-25.