Houghton High School 10th-grader Caleb Thomas and coach Christopher Doig get the Superior RoboWorks robot ready for packing at the end of the team’s practice Wednesday night. The team finished second at its first competition of the year in Escanaba Friday and Saturday.

HOUGHTON — Houghton High School’s FIRST Robotics team got off to a strong start for their 2023 season, finishing second in the district competition over the weekend in Escanaba.

The Superior RoboWorks team scored 76 points, one behind district winner Grosse Pointe Woods.

Under the district model, teams compete at two smaller-scale district events, where they try to earn enough points for the Michigan district championship event. This year’s will take place from April 6-8 at Saginaw Valley State University.

The highest-ranking teams then go on to the FIRST Championship, which will be held in Houston next month.

“It’s very, very energetic with hundreds of teams,” said 12th-grader John Ackerman, who was on the Houghton team who competed in the championship last year. “They’re from all around the world. It’s really exciting.”

The 12 students in Superior RoboWorks began building the robot for this year’s game in January.

In “Charged Up,” two alliances of three teams each use their robots to place cubes and cones onto a simulated power grid.

The task required a robot with an extended arm capable of reaching the top rung.

“It is a big reach,” coach Christopher Doig said during the team’s final practice before competitions Wednesday. “We’ve had a lot of launching games, placing games, but never something that’s quite so much reaching out.”

Teams also win additional points if their robots are docked with a “charging station” further back. The first 15 seconds, the robot is autonomous; a team member then drives it for the remaining 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Teams also receive bonuses for lining up three pieces in a row on the grid.

Houghton finished first in qualifying matches, going 11-1. They captained the winning alliance, which also included Grosse Pointe Woods, winning their final match 136-96.

At Wednesday’s practice, Ackerman said the team’s robot was shaping up well, with extra time enabling them to get in more driver practice and testing.

“It’s weird having a robot ready before competition,” he said. “Normally, we’re scrambling at this point. This year, we’ve been ready early, and it’s been really good.”

The team puts in about 22 hours a week, Ackerman said.

“We meet more than any varsity team at our school,” he said.

Ninth-grader Collin Damsteegt specializes in wiring for the robot between the electrical board and the motor controllers.

“I like building the robot and thinking, problem-solving,” he said.

He was involved in Houghton’s middle school team as well. The robots at the high school level are bigger, as is the competition overall, he said.

What he was looking forward to the most was “just being at a competition.”

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Speaking Wednesday, Ackerman said the process would be the same afterwards regardless of the result.

“No matter how we do, we always just try and improve our robot, make it better for the next competition,” he said.

The team will be demonstrating at the Western U.P. STEM Fair and Festival event March 16 at Michigan Technological University’s Memorial Union Building and Superior Maker Fest on March 18 at Houghton High School. For information about the team is also available online at first857.org.