UPDATE (12/2): The Robogirls won their competition in Visalia on Saturday, taking home the grand champion award!
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ORIGINAL: A group of local Girl Scouts are defying stereotypes by building some impressive robots and sharing their love of science.
Kylee Gallegos and the Robogirls have two things in common. They love science, and they're all Girl Scouts from the Central Valley.
"I love science, I just love everything about it," Gallegos, 11, said.
The five girls make up the Robogirls. They've been gearing up for their first robotics competition since September.
"This is perfect," Gallegos said. "This is my zone, I love science and math. So I was like, this is going to be great."
The robotics competition is called the First Lego League. The event is this Saturday, Dec. 2 in Visalia and this year's theme is hydrodynamics.
The Robogirls will be going up against more than 40 other teams from the Central Valley.
The Lego robot they built will show hydrodynamic activities on a Lego board - like changing pipes, watering a flower and putting out a fire.
As part of the competition, they were told to solve a real world problem. The Robogirls chose Love Water, a local nonprofit that helps provide access to clean water for people in need.
"We don't think about it, click a button on a fridge and we get a cup of water," Gallegos said.
In just a few days before the competition, the Robogirls raised hundreds of dollars for Love Water.
While they made time to help others with the competition, they also found time to practice and prepare for Saturday's First Lego League.
The Robogirls met up once or twice a week coding, researching and working as a team.
"Even though we have the same interest, we have different ideas, like there's a robot, but somebody can work the motors, and somebody can build it, and somebody can program it, so it's like we all have our own opinion but we are all connected to this one thing: science and robotics," Gallegos said.
