The Bemidji Middle School Robotics Club has been busy preparing for the VEX Robotics World Championship, which will be taking place in Dallas, Texas this coming May.

Four BMS robotics teams this year made it to state, and out of that four, two teams tied for 3rd, qualifying them for this next competition. Only eight teams total from Minnesota are making to trip to the world tournament this year.

BMS Industrial Tech Teacher and Robotics Coach Bryan Anderson said that there are two levels at the world meet, one for high school students and one for middle school students. For the middle schoolers alone, there will be about 480 teams invited to compete, and that includes international students from New Zealand, China, Germany, and Great Britain, just to name a few.

Team Member Brayden Anderson from 1532A and Team Members Tanner Johnson & Eric Pittmann from 1532D say that they’re honored to be competing at the world tournament and representing Bemidji for the first time in many years.

Pittman says that for scoring, the team will get 40 points for elevating a goal on a platform, 20 points for being in their zone, and that every ring on a post is worth 3 points on the little goals, and worth 10 points on the tallest goal pole.

Both teams 1532A and 1532D will be heading to the world meet from May 3 to May 5.

By — Emma Hudziak