Broken ZipTies, one of three Albert Lea Robotics High School teams, competed at the state VEX Robotics competition in St. Cloud Wednesday through Saturday. The Broken ZipTies qualified for the state tournament for being recognized as a tournament finalist from the MSU Mankato Robotics regional match in December. The Broken ZipTies had a qualification record of four wins and four losses at the tournament, placing them at 26th in the overall rankings of the tournament. The team was selected to compete as the seventh seed in the elimination rounds, paired with team Restart from Mankato. Restart and the Broken ZipTies were eliminated in the first round, thus bringing a close to the 2023-24 robotics season. All of the ALHS robotics teams are excited to get started on next year’s game, which will be unveiled in May. Albert Lea Robotics is looking for new members to start wrenching bots with the group this summer and into the fall. If someone is interested in joining Albert Lea High School robotics, they should reach out to Burke Egner at burke.egner@alschools.org. The 2024 season will kick off with a 24-hour robot build in July. Provided