NAMPA — These robots are big.
"It reaches about nine feet tall, and it collapses into a four-foot space," said Columbia High School senior Trevor Young.
So is the competition. Nearly 30 teams are competing against each other at the FIRST Idaho regional robotics competition. Fifteen of them coming from Idaho and showing off the skills behind their robots they spent the past six weeks designing.
"[We] try and just do the best that we can in terms of how well studied engineering, all the math, science that went behind building our robot," said Young.
All the robots have to meet requirements for height and frame size, but each team's strategy is different. Just because they're competing against each other on this stage, doesn't mean they can't help each other out backstage.
"There's a team a couple of weeks ago that we found out was just going to be one team member and his dad coming up, so we reached out to them to say hey what can we do to help you," said Young.
Will English traveled over 2,500 miles to compete here from Florida.
"I love robotics, this was the only opportunity I had to take part in the competition this year, so it was well worth the money and the miles," said English.
Still, one student competing against teams of 40 plus, has its disadvantages.
"We only brought two little hand tool boxes, where there are teams that have entire machine shops set up in their pit area," said English.
Columbia High School students didn't let the competition get in the way of their sportsmanship.
"We're one of those teams that we just want everyone to have a great time not just ourselves, so spreading that joy around," said Young.
Saturday is the last day of the regional competition in Idaho. Winners qualify for a chance to compete at the first international championship.
