If it's hard to find a hotel in Omaha or Council Bluffs this weekend, blame the robots. "It's really become a large international event," said Jim Schulte, president of the CREATE Foundation. CREATE is an acronym for Competitive Robotics Enhancing and Advancing Technology Education."It's a nonprofit dedicated to tech education," Schulte said. "We aim to inspire and prepare today's students to become tomorrow's scientists and engineers."From March 23-25, more than 500 high school teams from 44 states and several countries are competing for the top prize at the Iowa West Fieldhouse in the U.S. Open Robotics Competition. The robots created by the teams are designed to compete against other robots by shooting yellow disks into a frisbee golf-like basket. "It teaches these kids coding," said Christy Arthur, the mother of a competitor for Thomas Jefferson High School. "It teaches the design process and it teaches them invention."A team gets five points for making it and gives the other team a point if they miss. "I call it a sport — it's 100% a sport," Arthur said. Schulte said the competition wouldn't be possible without the volunteer help. "We're very proud of the amount of support we get from those who've participated and understand it's important what we're doing," he said.The CREATE competition also involves working with other teams — they can earn more points through collaboration. "It's a student-led program, so it's amazing what these young engineers can come up with," Arthur said.