A local nonprofit is organizing a combat robotics competition to get students interested in manufacturing.
The Alliance for Working Together is hosting RoboBots April 28, where robots created by students from school districts in Northeast Ohio will face off.
Executive Director Alice Cable says the event is an effort to push students to consider jobs in manufacturing as a way of addressing the industry’s labor shortage.
"A lot of the work is something that most of them could see themselves doing," says Cable. "And, look, if they can’t see themselves doing that, that’s important as well."
Local companies sponsor the teams’ robots, supplying resources and expertise while working alongside the students.
Cable says 25 high schools are expected to participate. Fifteen middle schools are signed up for the Junior Bots division.
