Freeport Area High School students listen to a presentation at Metplas, a manufacturer in Highlands Industrial Park in Harrison Township, Allegheny County. Manufacturing Day was held in the industrial park on Friday. Submitted Photo

HARRISON TWP, Allegheny County — There was nothing robotic about the response of a group of Freeport Area High School students on Friday morning when they saw the much-needed gift built for them by three businesses.

Students from three school districts and two vocational-technical schools attended the first-ever Manufacturing Day at Highlands Industrial Park near Natrona Heights.

Three of the manufacturers there — Metplas, JV Manufacturing and EPD Electronics — had a special surprise for the Freeport students in the Metplas production center.

The companies became aware that the Freeport High robotics teams had no test box where they could safely test the battle robots they design and build.

So the companies built a 10-by-10 foot clear box with a clear door — known as a “weapons test arena” — where the students can try out the 15-pound robots they build to compete against other schools’ robots.

The arena was covered up when the Freeport students arrived for what they thought was only a presentation on working at Metplas, which provides precision machining of plastics and non-ferrous alloys.

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