In this case, pick up a pair of balls from the competition ring and toss them up into a hoop.

After a no-go first round, the team got to do exactly what team member Dave Karisa, 16, enjoys about robotics.

“We work together as a team and fix whatever is wrong,” he said.

Each year’s competition presents a new challenge.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Dave Karisa, 16, of Fort Dodge, carries his team’s robot to the test field Saturday morning during the First Tech Challenge Robotics League Championship at Fort Dodge Senior High. His fellow team members Daniel Winkler, 16, at left, Ethan Recker, 15, and James Winkler, 14, follow along.

Ryan Bowman, the science and engineering instructor at Humboldt High School, gets to watch the process as his students go from concept to competition.

“Each year is new,” he said. “You can’t reuse a robot.”

The task it has to complete is released right after Labor Day, he said. The first competition is a few short months later.

“We have about two months to get something up and running,” Bowman said.

League meets until the championship are a learning experience.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Robot 7332 gets a little attention Saturday morning from Fort Dodge Senior High Robotics Team members Dave Karisa, 16, left, Daniel Winkler, center, and Ethan Recker, 15, right during the First Tech Challenge Robotics League Championship at Fort Dodge Senior High.

“We fine tune and improve,” he said.

The robot his team, and many of the others, built integrate a smart phone, its camera and an AP to control it. During the first 30 seconds in the ring, the robot has to operate autonomously.

Bowman said the involvement in robotics gives his students experience in a new area of learning.

“Students don’t have much that involves a persistence in problem-solving,” he said.

Unlike the instant result of much of the technology that students usually use, robotics requires a long-term approach.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Humboldt High School Robotics Team member Kyle Weinert, 17, concentrates Saturday morning while working to get the team’s robot to pick up a large rubber ball during the First Tech Challenge Robotics League Championship at Fort Dodge Senior High.

“This doesn’t work like that,” he said. “This teaches a lot of life skills beyond robots.”

Those include team work, cooperation and passing on skills to those just starting.

“They don’t have a lot of experience with things,” he said. “The seniors show the freshmen how to build things.”

Many of the students involved plan on moving on to technical fields.

Ethan Recker, 15, a member of the Fort Dodge team, is among them.

“I like robotics,” he said. “It gives me an opportunity to join in something that I love. Mostly, I want to become a computer programmer.”

His teammate, Daniel Winkler, 16, plans a career as a mechanical engineer.

“Robotics and automation are going into a lot of jobs,” he said.

His younger brother, James Winkler, 14, is also a team member at Fort Dodge Senior High.

“I like helping my brother,” he said.

Working with robotics also helps him satisfy his curiosity.

“I like putting stuff together and taking stuff apart,” he said.

Of course, one of those is more fun than the other.

“Taking it apart,” he said.

Kyle Weinert, 17, a member of the Humboldt High School team, enjoys the challenge too.

“I like coming up with different ideas to solve a problem,” he said.

His teammate, Kody Harris, 18, likes the cooperative aspect.

“I like being able to work as a team to solve a problem,” he said.

There was no mistaking the role Dale Herzberg, of Des Moines, got to perform during Saturday’s event; he wore a genuine referee’s shirt. A retired teacher, he had a team for five years and has been helping out at meets for the past three as a volunteer.

“Three years ago I retired,” he said. “I took up refereeing and robot inspecting.”

He does it for the fun.

“That’s why I stayed in it,” he said.

Ed Birkey is the robotics coach at Fort Dodge Senior High. He also teaches engineering and industrial technology. He’s helping his students prepare for predicted changes in the job market.

“They expect 10 million new jobs in robotics technology in the next 10 years,” he said.

He also expects a lot of automation to replace workers, not just in the U.S. but worldwide.

“We expect two billion workers to be replaced with automation by 2030,” he said. “It’s coming. It’s here.”

One thing that won’t be replaced, though, is good old-fashioned school rivalry.

Humboldt coach Bowman said it’s good-natured.

“We work together all the time,” he said.

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