ESCANABA — High school robotics teams from across the Upper Peninsula will be in Escanaba this weekend for a FIRST Robotics district event competition at Escanaba High School.

The multi-day event begins with inspections and the pits opening Friday at 5 p.m., but the real excitement begins Saturday with opening ceremonies at 10:30 a.m. Then, from 11 a.m. until 7:45 p.m. — with an hour lunch break from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. — teams will compete in qualifying matches.

This year’s game, called “REEFSCAPE,” has an underwater theme, with two competing alliances of three teams each seeding “coral” on a central “reef,” harvesting “algae,” and hanging from a cage attached to a “barge” floating above the surface of the arena.

While the game play differs from year to year, robotics fans will be familiar with some aspects of the game. As in past years, alliances will have a short period at the start of the game when the robots can move about the arena and score points for performing actions autonomously. Then, after the first 15 seconds of the match, human operators take control of the robots to score as many additional points as possible in the remaining two minutes and fifteen seconds of play.

Actions on the arena floor have different point values depending on how they are accomplished. For example, seeding coral — the act of placing a tube on a rack in the center of the arena that resembles purple staghorn coral — can be worth two points, three points, five points, or six points depending on how high on the rack the tubes are placed. If a tube is placed by a robot autonomously, the point value goes up by one point at each level of the rack.

Qualification matches continue Sunday, following opening ceremonies that start at 9 a.m. Starting at roughly 12:30 p.m., the teams will make their alliance selections for the playoff matches. Those matches will begin around 2 p.m. with the awards ceremony to follow.

In addition to a number of event-specific awards, the robotics teams participating in this weekend’s tournament have their eyes on a trip to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas for the FIRST Championship event April 16-19. The event brings high school students from more than 600 teams together to test their mettle in the REEFSCAPE game.

It won’t be unusual if the U.P. is represented in April by a team that is in Escanaba to compete this weekend. Past U.P. teams that have participated in championship matches include the Gladstone Bravebots (nine appearances), the Superior Roboworks (eight appearances), Escanaba Robomos (three appearances), the Carney Nadeau BetaWolves (two appearances), and the Stephenson Eagles (one appearance).

For more information about the event and a full list of participating teams, visit frc-events.firstinspires.org/2025/MIESC