Over 40,000 people attended the championship. Picture via @MICHauto on Twitter
MICHauto Over 40,000 people attended the championship. Picture via @MICHauto on Twitter

Roars could be heard far outside Cobo Center as teams gathered on the show floor for first-round finals of the FIRST Championship competition on Saturday. 

Nearly 40,000 people filled the bleachers to watch the best of the best robots show off their moves and fight for world titles. 

“This week has been better than expected and we even had more attendance than our world championships in Houston last week,” said Mark Giordono, vice president of development for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). “We’re not here in Detroit just because it’s an awesome convention center, we’re here because it fits into the community, it’s history and everything Detroit produces.”