Music blaring, lights flashing and the seats filled with spectators, Manchester’s Verizon Wireless Arena wasn’t playing host to a musical act or sporting event, but more than 1,000 high school ers participating in the FIRST Overdrive Robotics Competition.

Saturday, March 1, marked the end of the three-day competition for 48 high schools and 1,200 students competing for a trip to the national competition, and in one case, bragging rights at the kitchen table.

The Helmke brothers both took part in the competition, with sophomore Devin, a member of the Bedford High School team, and senior Ian on the Manchester West team. Both are captains for their squads.

Having a father who is a software engineer and being around computers growing up certainly helped the two brothers’ knowledge of robotics.

Although the two never went head to head, the weeks leading up to the main event still involved chatter from both sides.

“Right after they released the competition, each team had our own brainstorming session. We would talk about the ideas we came up with, and later we exchanged pictures,” said Devin, who was a driver for his team’s robot. “We were really interested to see what was going on with the other teams. There was a lot of joking around after we got the challenger, all friendly joking.”

Ian, who was involved in the programming for his team’s machine, said the two were tight-lipped about their plans at times.

“We are jokingly competitive about the whole thing. We both wanted to win, so we’d brag about our robot or tell something cool about our robot,” he said. “At first, we were pretty quiet about our ideas, and didn’t talk about it a whole lot. Once we made the major design decisions, we shared a little more about it.”

The competition requires teams to assemble robots that drive around a track and score points by moving track balls over an overpass in the middle of the track.

Although each team wants to win, the competition is unique because of how willing teams are to help each other out.

Manchester West team member Thomas Provencher said there is a balance between winning and being a friendly competitor.

“There’s a lot of energy and competition. We’re all vying for the same thing, and we want to win,” he said. “We’re helping each other here (in the pit area), but out there it’s a war. If your neighbor in the pit area has a broken part you help them, but on the floor it’s a different story.”

Ian Helmke said upon arriving at the arena, his team realized they had a problem with one of the sensors on its robot. They went to the announcers table, and asked if any teams had the piece they required. “Within a minute we had one from another team,” said Ian. “It’s a lot of fun and you know the guys next to you will get you that if you need something.

Everyone wants to win, but everyone wants everyone else to be at their best.”

Bedford’s young team placed 45th out of the 48 teams, with a squad made up completely of freshmen and sophomores. That didn’t stop Devin Helmke from declaring the day a success. “It’s not about winning or losing, but how you cooperate and interaction between teams,” he said. “We needed all we could get from all of our team members. Everyone participated and I think we got a lot from that. Sometimes the crazy ideas are the ones that work the best.”

Team 501, Manchester West High School was selected as the winner of this year’s Engineering Inspiration Award, celebrating a team’s success in inspiring others to respect science and technology.

This award comes with a trip to the national competition in Atlanta. During the final day of competition, during which the alliance of Trinity, Pembroke Academy and team made up of various Rhode Island high schools won the crown.