It's a lot like the NCAA tournament-- there are fans, balls and brackets but...

"A lot of these kids don't necessarily play sports," Mike Murphy of Lansing says.

Instead 134 teams of aspiring engineers from high schools across the state had six weeks and a bunch of parts to get these robots functioning well enough to be able to take game balls and throw them into a trailer hitched to their opponents.

"It's really fun because you get to be inventive and do what you want to do and still learn all the engineering aspects," aspiring engineer, Swadhruth Kamanduri says.

And the part that makes it all the more interesting is that just because all of the robots are made from the same stuff doesn't mean they all work the same way.

"Even though you know how to play it, you don't know how it's going to play out and who's going to be hot at what time," Kamanduri says.

And while all the gadgets and gizmos look pretty cool they could also be a launching pad to a very successful career.

"In Michigan we've got all of these tech centers that are focused on the next engine and those engines are going to be built by robots. Somebody's got to build the robots, program the robots and maintain the robots," Governor Jennifer Granholm says.

And the engineering students may be just the people to do so, which could in turn end some of Michigan's problems.

"How many people can be put to work in this state to take on the next industry to lead the world?" Dean Kamen, the inventor of the robotics competition asks.

The winners of today's competition go on to compete at the state championship in early April.