NORTH HILLS, Calif. -- Forget Silicon Valley. The San Fernando Valley seems to have it’s fingers on the pulse of robotics.

Small fingers to be exact, like those of 11-year-old Christopher Vo of Pomelo Community Charter, who is excited about his upcoming trip to Kentucky.

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“Because it’s my second time on a plane," he said, "and then because we can get fried chicken there, a lot of fried chicken.”  

Fried chicken aside, what the trip really serves up is a global experience. Some 400 elementary school teams from around the world will be competing in the VEX Robotics World Championship, including two teams from Vintage Elementary Math/Science/Technology Magnet in nearby North Hills.

Teams travel from around the world, including China, Mexico, and Germany. Vintage Coach Edwin Nolasco says that while the teams may not all speak English, “when they are doing robotics, it’s very interesting because they are speaking the same language.”

Students on the teams start the season by designing and building the robots. Pomelo Panthers Coach Jim Holcombe says that really gets their gears turning in a whole new way.

“You can see it in their eyes, you can see it in their smiles," he said, "and you can see the excitement in them trying to put the pieces together the right way and how to build the bot.”

Once it's built, students drive their robot using a controller.

“It might look easy," 10-year-old Pedroangel Castaneda said, "but once you have the remote in your hand, it’s not that easy at all.”

They also program it to run autonomously. And this may be where the most important connection is made.  

“Sometimes in their classroom, they see numbers, they see formulas, but they don’t see how to put it to work," Nolasco explained. "When you start programming is when you realize, 'Oh there’s an application for everything we are learning.'”

This is Pomelo’s first trip to Worlds.  Vintage went last year.  But regardless of who flies home with the hardware next week, for students like Pedroangel, this is just the first leg of what could be a lifelong journey.

“I get to learn engineering because that’s what I want to do when I grow up. I want to be an engineer on like airplanes," said Pedroangel.

And with the skills he’s learned through robotics, the sky could be the limit on what he can achieve.