HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- The Gorillabots robotics team is heading to the Worlds Competition in Houston, Texas in April. This is the first time the team has qualified for the event in five years.

"It's been a culmination of months of work," said team member Mark, adding "It's been a difficult process really like clawing our way up the world rank so being able to participate in such a prestigious event, it's, it's a real honor."

The Gorillabots team is made up of members from Horseheads, Elmira and Corning. Preparation for the Worlds Competition started in the fall, and the students say a lot of work goes into it.

"Multiple hours a day, we just stand at the field and control the robot, going over the motions of cycling to our human player and scoring," said team member Andrew.

The three-day competition includes qualification matches and alliance selections. While competing, two teams pair up to form an alliance. One team's robot picks up blocks and puts them in a basket. At the same time, the other team's robot brings blocks to a human, who attaches a hook to them. The robot then brings the blocks back to the center of the floor, and hangs the blocks on a beam. The alliance with the most points wins the round.

“We have our net qualification matches to go up to finals," explained team member Aditya, adding, "This includes over 10 qualification matches that we can have to prove ourselves to other teams. And the final day we have our final matches where there’s alliance selections and the matches to wrap up the Worlds.”

The final two teams in an alliance will then go against each other for the title. Students said the road to Worlds was truly a team effort.

"On our team, we're really invested in the mentoring so every new member that comes in gets a lot of hands-on experience working with it," said Jacob, one of the seniors on the team.

The last time the Gorillabots went to this competition was five years ago, meaning none of the students on the team now were on the team at the time. That is one reason team members said makes this trip so special.

“It’s a massive accomplishment for the entire team, also all of us have never been to Worlds before," said Mark, one of the team members. "I don't think any of us had siblings that went to Worlds, so this is the first time that any of us have really seen Houston before. So, it's gonna be a real fun experience for all of us," he added.

Team coaches Teri and Lauren also expressed their excitement about going to Worlds for the first time in half a decade.

“My daughter’s been on the team for three years, and we’ve been so disappointed the last several years," said Coach Teri, adding, "We’ve been so close just haven’t made it so this was just an amazing, exciting, special event for us.”

However, the coaches also said community outreach is another goal of the Gorillabots.

"We work with the community to spread STEM," said Coach Lauren. "That could really be working with the science and discovery center in Corning, volunteering at their summer camps. It could also involve building science kits and distributing them at various different community events," she added.

"We actually have a GoFundMe account, so if you just search up team 5485 Gorillabots you should be able to find it," said team member Lydia. "We also have it posted on our Instagram account as well," she added.

The GoFundMe can be found here.

The championship will take place in Houston, Texas from April 16-19.