WEBER COUNTY, Utah — A team of students in Utah is building their future... one block at a time, and now they are on their way to representing the Beehive State on the international stage.
"I like building and breaking apart things and like once I found out about this team, it was like, it excelled it up to the next level,” said Iyra Maringanti, who is part of the Electro-Sloths team in the First Lego League group.
For the team, it's less about building Lego, and more about building a future. The students in the sixth to eighth grades are passionate about technology and finding solutions.
"I feel like, especially in places where it requires such problem solving and thinking, it’s very hard to replicate it and also having people who are also like minded and also interested in what they're doing,” said team member Vasishta Palagiri.
The team designs robots and programs them to do tasks.
"I was interested in robotics, so I decided to give it a shot and I’ve been doing it for the last 4 years and I’ve absolutely loved it,” added Vasishta.
Students also hone their presentation skills, research ideas and learn to work in teams, all led by their coach, Krishnakanth Golakoti.
"It’s all about creativity, you get to solve problems with creative ideas, that’s what excites me,” said Golakoti. “Kids have a lot of creative ideas and bringing them to a natural realization, that’s great."
"[Golakoti] help us by showing us techniques, and inspiring us, all throughout our journey,” said Vedagnya Palagiri.
At the state competition hosted at Weber State University last month, the team placed second, giving them chance to compete at the Sunshine Invitational, an international competition in Florida, this summer.
It's all coming after the Electro-Sloths qualified and participated in the world championship in Houston last year.
"We first brainstormed a way to finish the mission model, and we first thought of just a prototype, and it evolved and evolved, and I like how Legos just keep on evolving and you can make very complex masterpieces with just Legos,” said Pranav Rathan.
This year's topic was ‘Submerged,' so the students worked on a robot to help solve issues that people who work underwater might face and need to fix.
"I do like the fact that we get to collaborate and bring all the different ideas into an attachment, just basically combine ideas and make them into reality,” said Vennela Laveti.
The team is excited to keep using Lego as building blocks to their dreams.
"It’s just something that I enjoy as a hobby,"
added Karthik Chaganti, "so that’s just what I do and I enjoy with all my friends now.”
You can learn more about the team here: https://electroslothsproject.my.canva.site/electrosloths-core-values
