Twenty local high school robotics teams are hard at work this week, getting ready for a worldwide competition.

It's not quite a workshop, but a hallway works just fine for the McQuaid Jesuit High School robotics team as it gets ready for the FIRST Robotics Competition.

"We have done a lot, but there's still a lot to do," said team member Landon Gray.

They're five weeks into building a fully functional robot that will compete in a game called "Breakaway."

"It's kind of like a robot gladiator soccer type game," said team member Marielle Maxwell.

The deadline is next Tuesday, which means long hours during this week's winter break.

"I think we definitely needed it," said team member Jack Napolitano. "If we didn't have it I don't think we'd get things done."

"It's going to have to kick the ball and score a goal," said Gray. "This robot's going to do quite a bit."

It hasn't been easy turning complex designs into reality.

"I think we have done well working through these problems," said Napolitano. "We obviously run into a lot of them, and that's part of the big learning experience here."

"We're all kind of nervous about it being a rookie team, competing against people who are really experienced in this field, but we think we can hold our own," said Maxwell.

It's a little different at Victor High School. Whereas it's the McQuaid team's first year, this is the sixth year for Victor's robotics team.

"Being on the team a couple years I'm now able to go out and build stuff very easily," said third-year team member Jimmy Baase.

"It helps with time management when you can sort of know what will work and what won't," said third-year team member Kevin Creager.

Creager, a senior, thinks his involvement in FIRST helped him get accepted to Clarkson University.

"Being on a FIRST team not only helps you communicate with others, but it also looks impressive to other people," said Creager.

Twenty local teams hope to make an impression the first weekend in March, when the Finger Lakes Regional Competition hits the RIT campus.

"The goal this year by bringing in the soccer element is to really attract large numbers of people into our competitions," said Baase.

Because watching soccer playing robot gladiators just may be as much fun as building one.

Teams from around the world will compete in regional competitions, with the winners going on to the FIRST championship in Atlanta this April.

Time Warner Cable, the parent company of YNN, is proud to sponsor the McQuaid robotics team for its first year in the competition. For more on the FIRST Robotics Competition and TWC's Connect a Million Minds Campaign, click on the link below.

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