Otumoetai College's robotics team is showing Kiwi ingenuity is world class after placing second at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Los Angeles.

The high school team last night flew back to New Zealand following the three day event at the Anaheim Convention Centre.

Otumoetai College's Sarah Avery, Lucas de Rijk (mentor), Dean Strydom, Seumas Beedie (mentor), Logan Davy, Bradley Allen, Deon Wessels (teacher), Kate Low, and Toni de Rijk (manager) after winning the NZ VEX Robotics Championships.

More than 15,000 students from 27 countries take part in the competition with individually built robots.

Kate Low and Logan Davy's team placed second overall and teammates Sarah Avery and Dean Strydom came second in their division.

The two teams gained qualification to the event after defending their title at the NZ VEX Robotics Championships in a battle of brain power and mechanics.

The robotics competition is based on teams building and developing robots to compete in a set scenario, aiming to score the most points possible in qualification matches, elimination matches and skills challenges.

Teams form alliances composed of two teams each to compete in matches.

Otumoetai College fell one point short of taking the overall honours with Auckland's Lynfield College finishing first.

It is the sixth time a Kiwi team has won the competition and the second year Lynfield has placed first.