Teams from all over the state of Washington went head to head at Jackson High School on Jan. 12 at the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) district competition.

Hosted by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), teams were instructed to build robots at the beginning of the season and program them with given materials.

Robots would then be programmed to perform certain tasks that would earn the team points in a competition.

At Sunday’s competition, for example, robots were asked to drop plastic cubes above or under baskets in an arena autonomously and with a controller. To better their chances at a win, teams could design their robot to raise a flag up a pole or hang it from a bar, a task easier said than done when creating the machine.

Judges decided to debut a new scoring system called the alliance selection. Teams from competing schools were pooled together and divided into two teams and competed in duos. The winning team would then be divided and those left standing would move on to the state championship.

Four teams from MTHS competed, one of which being the Heat Misers, the first all girls’ team in the state.

“The challenge focuses on working well with team members and gracious professionalism,” sophomore FTC Team Captain Kendra Potoshnik said, gracious professionalism meaning good sportsmanship and healthy competition.

“People should come watch if they’re into technology and engineering, as well [as] if they like video games,” Potoshnik continued.

“I like it because people aren’t as at each other’s throats,” junior Emilee Paradis, member of MTHS Team Chill Out, said.

“With so many people, if you don’t like a team you won’t be held against it,” Paradis continued.