CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One of the newest events of the Buccaneer Days is the Robotics Rodeo.
It's not about battle bots, instead, the event highlights high school student's skills in programming, navigation and design.
Sandy Riggs is the robotics program coordinator at Corpus Christi Early College High School.
"The whole purpose of this event is to spread the awareness of STEM because there are communities outside our community that are all about robotics," Riggs said.
The four teams within the robotics program at the Corpus Christi Early College High School are kicking it up a gear as the Robotics Rodeo approaches.
Teams are tasked with building a robot that can compete in a unique game.
"They custom make all their robots, 3-D print their own parts, and build the robot they design their own code to program. They take them to the competition and whip some robot booty," Riggs said.
Mark Avelar is the Chairman of the Buc Days Robotics Rodeo.
" (It's) an overwhelmingly successful event," Avelar said. "We had teams from all across the state participate. Last year we had about 24 teams. This year, we've increased that to 48 teams."
High school and middle school students will be competing for a cash prize, but those returning to the competition said it's the experience that brought them back.
"It's not what you expect. It's really cool meeting other teams and seeing our skills being shown through our robot, (and) the way we communicate with other teams as well," Junior Citlali Lopez said.
The event is set to take place on Saturday, May 13 in the Watergarden Ballroom of the American Bank Center.
