Who doesn't love a good robot showdown? A group of industrious Bellevue high school students certainly do -- and snagged a top spot in an annual competition that pits robot against robot to prove it.

Team W.A.S.A.B.I. 2 was part of the winning high school alliance -- comprised of three teams from around the world -- in the Vex Robotics World Championships, held this past weekend at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

“There was so much energy and talent at this year’s VEX Robotics World Championship that it inspired us both on and off the field,” said Grace Hsieh in a statement. “It was an amazing experience to meet and compete with some of the best teams from all over the world.”

To compete, each team of eight students built one robot. The robots were designed to pick up plastic rings -- autonomously and via remote control -- and place them on posts to score points. Following two days of qualifications, the top-ranking eight teams chose strategic alliance partners and finished the championship working with their partners. (Team W.A.S.A.B.I. 2 partnered with Massachusetts’ Green Egg Robotics Club and Ontario, Canada’s Simbotics.)

"We got very lucky and our bot performed fabulously, it was fast -- I guess our trademark is we were fast and reliable and one of our partners was slow and solid, and the two combined together made a virtually unbeateable pair," said team coach David Zook of the win.

Team W.A.S.A.B.I 2 at the Vex Robotics World Championship in Orlando, Fla.

Team W.A.S.A.B.I. 2 members include Kevin Tam, Isaku Kamada, Akash Gupta, Kevin Li, Julie Eng, Grace Hsieh, Ryan Badiee and Zane Zook, all sophmores at Interlake High School and the International School. The students spent the last year building their robot with the guidance of Zook, who owns Big Brain Education (formerly the Bellevue Tutoring Club).

"These are some highly skilled kids that work under pressure really, really well," said Zook of the team. "We’ve had our challenges but, boy, they really pulled it together -- put in a lot of hard work, had good luck and we got good partners in our final alliance."

The competition is designed to encourage students to enter careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This year, the event drew more than 10,000 middle school, high school and university participants representing 16 countries from around the world.