Some 72 teams from 13 states are competing Friday at the 2015 North Super Regional Championship at the Iowa Events Center.
The competition running Thursday through Saturday is for the chance to advance to the FTC World Championship.
Kevin Cooney caught up with the teams Friday as they prepared their robots for competition.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is for grades 9-12 (ages 14 to 18). It's an annual competition designed to ignite interest in science, engineering, and technology.
Teams have six weeks to build a robot to compete in the game using a kit of parts provided by FIRST and a standard set of rules. The 2015 game is called RECYCLE RUSH. Two alliances of three robots each score points by stacking totes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles, representing litter.
This year, about 73,000 high-school students are competing on nearly 3,000 teams.