WEBER COUNTY, Utah — A team of students in Utah is building their future – one block at a time. Now, they are on their way to representing the Beehive state on an 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. She is part of the ‘Electro-Sloths’ Lego team, part of the First Lego League group.
For this team, its less about building Legos, and more about building a future. They are 6th to 8th graders who 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 Vasishta Palagiri, who is also on the team.
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.
They also get to hone presentation skills, research their ideas, learn to work in teams — 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."
"He'd help us by showing us techniques, and inspiring us, all throughout our journey,” said Vedagnya Palagiri, about their coach.
At the state competition hosted at Weber State University in February, the team placed second — so they got this trophy and the chance to compete at an international competition – Sunshine Invitational - in Florida this summer.
The team also qualified for the world championship in Houston last year, and participated there.
"We first like 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 they 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.
Also on the team Aaditya Kuberan, Aatish Nambiar, and Anvith Rangini.
Excited to keep using Legos as building blocks to their dreams. "It’s just something that I enjoy as a hobby, so that’s just what I do and I enjoy with all my friends now,” added Karthik Chaganti.
You can learn more about the team here: https://electroslothsproject.my.canva.site/electrosloths-core-values
