ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Twelve teams of students from across New York State competed in a robotics tournament at Elmira High School on Saturday.  Teams of four spent weeks preparing their robots for the competition.  From building the bot, to writing code, to controlling the bot; the students did it all.

"I have a class in robotics, so I get to mess around with this stuff a lot. So, I'm a bit of the coder for the team, and I'm also the builder. The rest of the team came up with the ideas, I'm the one who implements them," said Tyler Moretz, a student participant in the competition.

The goal of the competition is for the robot to get as many triballs as possible.  Different colored triballs and placements are worth different amount of points.  The teams add up their point totals, and advance to different rounds.


"There's also an autonomous period, where the robot goes by itself with the code that you made. I coded the robot [for my team]," added Moretz.

Students were scored on design, skills, sportsmanship, excellence and more.  However, there's more to learn than just robotic skills at this tournament.

"The teamwork environment is really what sets us apart from other things that [the students] might be doing. It's kind of like playing a live video game, but playing with your friends.  Without the teamwork, teams will not be successful. So from problem solving, to how to code, to how to make changes to their robot, strategy within the game, all of that stuff is a part of the teamwork and the competition," said Nathan Smith, the tournament coordinator.

Students from eight different schools participated in the tournament.  The schools were Canaseraga Central School, Chenango Valley High School, Elmira High School, Franklinville Junior-Senior High School, Mekeel Christian School, Niagara Falls High School, Queensbury Senior High School, and Wellsville Secondary School.  Both students and faculty agree that there is something special about robotics.

"Eight years ago we started this competition and we've been doing it every year, [some years] we've had as many as 44 teams.  This year we don't have as many, but they're out there, they're working together, having fun, there's a whole lot going on, and that's why I do it every year, its all for the kids," added Smith.

Event organizers say they hope this tournament will continue on for many more years, and continue to foster a love for robotics for students.  The results of the tournament can be found here.