COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A group of Skyview Middle School students were hard at work Tuesday morning, and what they were doing was anything but typical. 

They were building and programming robots.

"The class is called Tech Ed or GTT which stands for Gateway to Technology," said eighth grader Abbigail Ness.

Many of the students in Tech Ed have been in the class for more than a year. They said it is not just about robots but all kinds of engineering and technology projects.

"You can build a kite, or rockets out of foam in seventh grade and then shoot them off, and then in eight grade we build the robots," Ness said.

Recently the class has been working on building cars and cranes, and just last month they competed in a competition with other Falcon District 49 students.

"We were given a box of parts and were given three hours, and with our team of kids from other schools we were told to build a robot and program it," said eighth grader Ian McMorran.

Then the teams were asked to test their robots in an obstacle course and against one another.

They said it is not just for fun and added they have to use a variety of problem-solving skills to get the job done.

"When we build the program we have to write it out and explain the motor and the way it works," Ness said.

The students said what they have learned in the class will help them as they advance on to high school and college.

Some even have plans to go into a technology or engineering-related job.

"In the future I would like to go into some sort of computer software design or robotics programming, so this class has given me the knowledge to do those things later in life," McMorran said.

The students will participate in another competition in May.