Students from across California - and world - compete in robotics event in Fresno

The 8th annual Central Valley Regional FIRST Robotics Competition is underway in Downtown Fresno.

The three-day event showcases robots built and operated by high school teams.

But the focus isn't just on engineering and design. Students are learning about outreach, media production, economics and business.

"I learned how to do my first grant when I was a freshman in high school. And I know that is something that a lot of other people are not learning. And with the skills I am learning right now, I could hopefully start my own business one day," said Elijah Hernandez, Buchanan High School.

The Buchanan 1671 Birdbrains are just one of many Central Valley high schools participating this weekend.

Each school is building a robot with wheels that must execute a specific task in a set time.

Schools from around the state are up for the challenge, including this all-female team from Notre Dame High School in San Jose.

"Because we are an all-girls team, girls get to participate in all aspects of the robot, from the design to actually competing. And this is something I don't see a whole lot in the FRC field," said KK Kumar, Notre Dame High School.

The competition even caught the eye of students from Chinese Taipei. This is its first robotics team competing in the United States.

"There are more teams here. We only have 20 teams in Taiwan and here there are over 50 teams. Very, very interesting," said Melody Huang from Chinese Taipei.

The competition takes place on Friday and Saturday at the Convention Center.

Winners will advance to the finals at Houston, Texas, in April.