WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - Middle schoolers from around the state competed in a robotics competition all with the common goal of going international. 

Ten schools, 28 teams, and more than 120 middle schoolers take part in the 2024 Kansas State VEX Robotics Championship. 

“I’m the only girl on my team at my school so I feel very proud that I’m in robotics and I get to do all this and meet all these new people," said Elyse Hartley, an 8th grader from Wilbur Middle.

Hartley was eager to compete in this year's state championship. 

“I’m kind of a competitive person, and I like coding and building stuff and I just think it's cool to go to competitions and meet new people,” said Hartley. 

All the students are competing for state titles and a chance to attend a Worlds Competition in Dallas later this year. 

“I think it would be fun to meet people from other countries,” said Anthony Roberts, an 8th grader from Coleman Middle. 

Students are judged based on their engineering notebooks, interviewing, and performance during the competition. 

“It’s going to teach them the hard skills, the engineering, how things work, how to put things together, gear ratios as well as the programming of the robots. But what gets me passionate is also the soft skills the kids are learning,” said Cory McCracken, a robotics teacher and event organizer.

Competitors have to collaborate with other teams in order to accomplish their objectives teaching communication, teamwork, and patience. 

“We had just a bunch of trial and error and then now we have so many mechanisms on our robot that work really good and efficient,” said Julian Ortiz, an 8th grader from Wilbur Middle 

Middle school VEX robotics has been around in Kansas for the last 8 years, but every year it seems to get more competitive 

“If you wanna join robotics I think you should. It's really fun to get to know people and like build robots and get to know each other,” said Abigale Slane, a 7th grader from Coleman Middle.