ESCANABA -- Thirty Escanaba High School students are preparing for a robotics competition the first week of March in Traverse City.

This is their third week of the Robotics Club meeting together, and they're still in the trial phase.

The students worked on an obstacle bridge and a conveyer belt.  They also did some testing to see what they want on their robot, which they'll build in the remaining three weeks.

This is the second year Escanaba High School has participated in the competition.

"I figured it'd just be a bunch of people getting together and talking about robots and stuff," said student Kyle Pinozeki.  "But it's actually a competition, and we compete with different high schools and communities.  It's really fun."

"It's definitely a learning experience," said student Ryan Leisenring.  "Learning a lot of stuff I never knew before.  But at the same time, it's fun getting to hang out with friends and work on stuff with people you know."

Parents and engineers are also onboard to mentor the participants during the after-school meetings.