ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A Bay Area student turned his hobby of tinkering with robots into a creative way to create protective masks for doctors and first responders. 

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Ian Navales, 15, of St. Petersburg loves battlebots. He builds them and drives them too. 

"I've been building combat robots for about three years now. I design them all and I build them all myself. Then go to competitions around the state," Ian said. 

He had a first place win this past February. 

When he's not building battlebots, he's usually building racing drones or riding the hover board that he built. 

"Pretty much since he was 4-years-old he was always just building and constructing. I would buy him those little wooden Leonardo Da Vinci construction kits and he would have them built in no time," said Ian's mom Christina. 

Lately, Ian's attention has turned to the coronavirus and with his 3D printer that he got a Christmas present, he's been building masks for nurses and doctors and all first responders. 

So far, Ian has delivered about 30 masks with more to come. 

"It's nice to know that you can make a difference and that you can help people," he said.