“I didn’t realize there was so much you could do,” said Anthony Baer of his experience this year with Robobots, a hands-on robot-building program for area high school students.

“When I first signed up I wasn’t sure what I was getting into,” said Baer, a junior at Cambridge Springs High School. “I didn’t know how many different jobs there were — engineering, CAD (computer aided design), production. There’s so much going into it.”

Because of his Robobots experience, Baer now is looking into an engineering career.

“I’d like to think it’s going to be something in engineering or building of some kind,” he said.

Statements like Baer’s and the overwhelming positive results of a student survey of the Robobots program make Brian Deane very happy.

The survey numbers were revealed this week. Some 94 percent of high school students who responded said Robobots raised awareness of technical and manufacturing careers available in the community; and 76 percent will consider continuing their education in a technical field.

“This shows the kids get a lot out of it,” said Deane, volunteer coordinator for the Robobots program since the northwestern Pennsylvania chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association started it two years ago.

Teams from more than a dozen schools in the region designed and built 15-pound robots that battled each other in an enclosed viewing area in April.

Students may have fun building the robots, but they also see practical applications of math, science, engineering and manufacturing skills as they build them, according to Deane.

“They’re learning about technology and how to use it,” he said. “They’re learning to work on a project as a team. I feel it reinforces what’s being taught.”

This is the first year the chapter took a survey of students to see what they thought of the program. About a third of the 180 students who participated in the program responded.

Dennis Frampton, president of the NTMA chapter, said the survey results are good news.

“We want to attract young people to the trade,” he said. “This gets them interested in the trade and what the trade is all about.”

Nationwide, the National Tooling and Machining Association estimates a current need for about 35,000 skilled workers.

Both Frampton and Deane said there is a coming need for even more new workers as many of those in the trade are in their 50s or even 60s and will be retiring.