JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Drones and bots battled it out Saturday morning on the ETSU campus for the 2025 Robot Drone League Nationals and Junior Nationals.

The competition is a huge event for those heavily invested in the STEM field, with teams consisting of middle and high school students from seven different states.  

Teams competed with their handcrafted drones and robots in a series of tasks and challenges. This year’s competition was called the ‘Mineshaft Challenge’.

David Golden, CEO of the ETSU Research Corporation, told News Channel 11 that a tremendous amount of time goes into a competition like this.

“As they open up that kit of parts, and put it together like Apollo 13, they dump it in the middle of the table and learn how to put it together, how to program it and execute the various tasks. They learn computer programming and teamwork,” said Golden.

33 teams were in attendance Saturday, two teams were unable to make it due to recent snowfall in their regions impeding travel.