MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Robotics teams that teach youth problem solving, mechanical engineering, computer programming and team work skills are preparing for a regional qualifying competition Saturday in the Tri-Cities. The team coordinator Kat Stebbins said the teams still need a few volunteers to help judge competitors and is reaching out to Moses Lake parents, teachers or anyone who wants to help.

She said a judge does not need any technical computing or programming experience, but would need to be in Richland from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday to help with the all-day event.

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Stebbins at 509-760-4589.

On Tuesday, the three teams, RoboSparX, a First Lego League team comprised of middle-school-aged girls, RoboStormz, a FLL team comprised of middle-school boys, and RoboPir8s, a First Tech Challenge team comprised of high-school students, tinkered with the hand-made and programmed robots in preparation for their regional qualifying competition Saturday.

Stebbins is passionate about giving students who may not like or excel at athletic competitions an outlet where they can get the camaraderie of a team sport and the excitement of winning.

She said a focus of the Robotics competition is "gracious professionalism," meaning competitors are encouraged to help other teams in a collaborative effort. Even during the madness of hand-built robots doing tasks like knocking over and climbing obstacles, the youth are taught not to demolish or damage the other team's robots. They get points deducted if they do.

Proud parents watch their children but are encouraged to "stay on the sideline" as the youth who built the robots have to fix any problem that arises during competitions.

Some parents who have a job in the engineering field offer some guidance but are adamant about letting their children make their own mistakes so they can work through them.

"If we do this for them, then what are they learning," said Doane Mardis, a supervising engineer at Genie Industries. Mardis coaches the RoboPir8s team and has a son on the team.

"Hopefully this will help kids find out what their interests are and if this is something they want to do," said Trung Tran, an engineer at Grant County PUD and parent of competitors.