Battle robots face off at Mesa Ridge HS for the National Robotics Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Students and their combat robots came from across the country to Mesa Ridge High School this weekend for the National Robotics Championship Competition.

“This isn’t just a robotics competition — it’s a real-world engineering experience,” said Kathryn Wollenhaupt, board member of the Rocky Mountain Tooling & Machining Association.

Over the past months, students have built and refined their battle bots for this weekend's tournament. The setup is a double-elimination tournament featuring 15-pound combat robots designed and built by high school students.

KRDO13 caught up with Aiden Evans and Jeremiah Huck coming out of Central High School in Grand Junction to hear their game plan before their match.

"Stay aggressive, use the weapon to its ability. Don't let up, and don't get under it because it's a stalling bot, so it wants you to get on top of it to stall. So stay away from it and do some damage," Huck said.

"Just gotta stay out driving them, stay aggressive," Evans added.