Internationally engineering education has had to become more pro-active in attracting students with the technical knowledge, skills and motivation enabling them to excel in four or more years of study with the ultimate goal of addressing the ever-growing demand for qualified engineers from the industry. General public perceptions that engineering is a difficult career field while offering inadequate financial rewards as compared to alternative fields have resulted in significant reduction in student numbers, particularly among high quality students across all the engineering, sciences and technical disciplines. This paper presents the experience of using robotic competition events to motivate school students and help them appreciate what is involved in an engineering design and development fields.