BATAVIA – The robots hustled in the competition pit, scooping up green beanbags in mechanized shovels and dumping them into raised troughs, their designers at the controls.

Then the competing team’s robot toppled over, its wheels spinning as the controller tried to use its scooper mechanism to right itself. Too late. The round was over, and the next competitors stepped up while the teams carried their robots off to be adjusted.

Forty-eight teams competed in the tournament at the Great Lakes-Midwest-Illinois VEX Robotics Championship on Saturday at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia. Batavia Robotics and Fox Valley Robotics hosted the event, which drew participants from the Chicago metro area, Wisconsin and Indiana.