It's definitely an exciting time when it comes to drones, as the job market is ever-expanding, and then there is the sporting aspect for the younger flyers.
"You know there is a magical thing about a drone competition that makes it exciting," says Robolink CEO Hansol Hong.
"So students learn all of the skill sets needed, without knowing that they are learning."
On Saturday, Feb. 11, four North County students, who call themselves Team Carmel Valley, will show off their best drone skills at the International Aerial Drone Competition at UCSD. It's a new skill set for most, and they are loving everything about it.
"Just flying them is kind of cool in how you can get them off the ground and control them remotely," says Rahul Rao.
"I just think it's interesting that we are able to create these machines that just hover in mid-air," says Schular Chao-Land.
There are 14 teams comprised of middle school and high school students taking part in the competition. Each team will be flying its drone through a series of obstacles.
"There is two parts to the competition, as you can fly the drone manually or programming," says Team Carmel Valley member David Samy.
In the competition, each team has 2 minutes to earn as many points as possible by manually controlling their drone to perform the various tasks.
"You have to fly the drone through hoops, then into a black zone, and then use your drone to move small ping pong type balls, and finally landing the drone on a targeted spot. It's going to be tough, but we are very excited and hopefully all goes well."
Besides the competition, flying the drones is a learning experience as it relates to S.T.E.M, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
"It's a great way to learn about programming and different aspects of computer science," says Samy.
While the goal this Saturday is to perform well in competition, Hong says this is a skill set that can help these kids later in life.
"Possibly later on they become a drone pilot or with their code, they can work at big companies like Google, Apple, or Qualcomm."
This week is a regional competition with the top 3 teams moving on to the finals.
