As Austin prepares to host a home robotics meet this weekend, a few Austin teams are already looking ahead to a competition at the end of January.

Austin will host the VEX Robotics Tournament from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in Austin High School’s Packer Gym with about 36 teams from across the state competing, seven of which are from Austin.

Ellis Middle School robotics coach Tom Fritz said the competition is good for the Austin community, as it is getting more people into town to see what Austin and Austin Public Schools have to offer.

“This weekend the tournament has been maxed out, all of the positions have been booked,” Fritz said.

As they prepare to compete this weekend, the seventh- and eighth-graders Ellis VEX Robotics teams are preparing for another big tournament later this month. Both qualified for the state competition on Jan. 29 and 30. The eighth-grade team qualified last weekend, and the seventh-grade team qualified in October.

Since both Ellis teams qualified for state already, this Saturday’s home competition will have a different focus.

“It’s great because it’ll take some pressure off both teams, not that we won’t do our best but it’s just something to look forward to,” Fritz said.

Though a bit of the pressures is off, Fritz is excited for the home competition and said many volunteers have come together to make the event happen.

“There’s many people from the community who are volunteering to help make this happen too, so it’s been a nice thing to work on, especially on [Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau Director] Nancy [Schnable’s] part to be able to gather as many people as she has to help coordinate this event and put it together,” Fritz said.

Fritz and his teams are also excited about the state competition, and he said the students have done a lot of problem solving and will continue to practice.

“I think the kids will do great,” he said. “Last weekend I think both teams started off having some issues but they continued to work through and finish strong. I think they’re going to continue to do the same. I think they’re going to work through and problem solve.”

He hopes the experience will be good and said the students are looking forward to a day off school and a night away, but it will be a good learning experience as well.

“I just hope the students get just the experience of working together and problem solving and just having new experiences,” he said. “We’re just continuing to push them through to improve their robots and improve their performance for the state tournament.”

The three teams from I.J. Holton have not yet qualified for state, but coach Kaylene Jensen hopes to qualify during this weekend’s tournament.

“We’ll see what happens but they’re in a great place to get an invitation to state,” Jensen said.

The two Austin homeschooled teams are also competing this weekend but have also not yet qualified for state. The event in Austin is the last tournament before the state tournament.

Austin teams competing at this weekend’s home competition:

•Ellis Robotics 9452A

•Ellis Robotics 9452B

•I.J. Holton Engineers A 8440A

•I.J. Holton Engineers B 8440B

•I.J. Holton Engineers C 8440C

•Arik’s Group Mysterious George 8091

•Arik’s Group Mysterious George 8091B

—The Mysterious George teams are made up of homeschooled students.