Some local high school students are bound for Houston, Texas, where they will be representing the Central Coast in the FIRST Robotics World Championship.
Teams from Arroyo Grande High School and Central Coast New Tech High School joined together to qualify for the championship.
Officials say it has been 17 years since they last made it to the world championships, marking a significant milestone in the team's 20-year history.
Orion Schmidt, an 11th grade student on the Eagle Robotics Team, told KSBY that the team will be competing with a robot named Bruce.
"It's around 30,000 man-hours to build this one robot, and that's every year. And that's time the students are taking. It's not for school. It's not that it's extracurricular. It's outside of school time- it's their own time that they're coming in, that we're all coming in and we're putting time in to try and build this robot and get it done," Schmidt said. "It's a lot of work, but it's very worth it when you see a copy and see it perform at the level that we have."
Atascadero Community Robotics is another local team that made the cut for the world championship. They will be competing in Texas next week.
Eagles Robotics is hosting a BBQ fundraiser this weekend to further their cause; although tickets are sold out, officials say you can still donate online to help with the cost of the trip to the championships.
