A team of Pocatello students from Franklin Middle School are embracing the future, using robots.

"Right now if we are beating high school teams it should fairly easy to beat middle school teams," said Christopher Entzel.

That confidence is no joke. The team is fresh off winning the Idaho State Robotics Championship where they beat out 28 of the best robotic teams in the state including 23 high schools. Now their attention turns to the best teams in the world.

"When I came here I didn't really thing we would get that far, like maybe a couple competitions in city, and I never even thought of worlds but now we are going there," says Chloe Curtis.

Getting to the world championships wasn't really a goal of the team when they started getting into robotics, but after recent tournament success they are ready for the challenge.

"We just did it for fun and some of these people do it seriously and do it as classes in school, but somehow we are doing better than them," said Entzel.

Despite having different roles on the team all members have put in many hours into their robot "Kirby".

"Its done way better and I really like it and I'm really proud of it," said Curtis.

Making sure everything is working properly and making modifications to the claws and body so it can pick up a heavier load.

"The competitive feeling whenever you're chucking stuff over and they are chucking stuff back. It's really fun and even though it's as nerdy as it can seem it's the most fun thing ever," said Jred Harden.

The team has qualified for the Robotics World Championships in Kentucky but they lack the funding to get to the event and compete. You can help them get to the world championships by donating here: https://www.gofundme.com/plz-send-us-to-vex-world-robotics

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Local middle school robotics team headed to world championships - KPVI News 6