ROYAL CITY - It turns out that competing in robotics is much like competing in athletics. Experience helps.

With veteran programmers the last two years, Royal High School dominated the Zillah Robotics Challenge. Two weekends ago, loaded with newcomers, Royal didn't fare as well.

Royal High School sent three teams: "Those Guys," "Legend in the Making" and "Minority Report." Eleven students, most of them freshmen and/or new to robotics made the trip.

"They were able to balance their schedules between sports practices and musical events to attend after-school sessions to learn how to assemble and program the robots," mentor Mario Godoy said.

However, all the hard work did not produce victory. Royal finished well out of the top three.

"The kids are probably disappointed with the result, but I value their effort, commitment, and good behavior," Godoy said. "This is a new beginning for Royal Robotics and a much-needed learning experience for the new members."

 Godoy added that team members need to work harder to expect a strong comeback next March at the second challenge in Zillah.

Thanks to a grant from DonorsChoose.org, Godoy, was able to purchase two robotics kits to offer students the opportunity to learn and practice throughout the school year.

The program includes returning seniors Noah Grant, Jonathan Nunez and Alonzo Lopez, junior Christopher Cruz, and sophomore Francisco Godoy-Cortes along with newcomers Antonio Guadarrama, Yessenia Armengol, Kimberly Carrasco-Pruneda, Zulema Quintero, Rumaldo Carrasco-Pruneda and Connor Hebdon.

Originally, 18 schools signed up to participate with a total of 42 teams. The day of the event, 35 teams representing 13 schools were present. Wahluke, which signed up four teams, cancelled at the last moment.

The Sumo Challenge proved harder than expected for the Royal teams. They had an early exit due to some troubleshooting details. Sometimes the robots left the sumo ring on their own.

The Line-Following Challenge, with four courses at different degrees of difficulty, put the Royal teams on the right track.

However, the Bonus Round, which challenges students to program their robots to perform a "surprise" task, gave the Royal teams fewer points than anticipated.

In the end, the Royal teams ended their participation quite behind the top three winners. However, there was a victory of another sort. The Zillah Science Boosters judging committee presented the Royal teams with the "Best Dressed Award" for their impeccable personal presentation.