Any visitor who walks into the Serrantes home in Oak Harbor can immediately see what the family is most passionate about: robots.

A shelf displays half a dozen robots that have been in competitions all over the country. A padded, 12-by-12-foot competitive robotics court is a permanent fixture in their living room. The robots were built by the four Serrantes siblings, who together make up an independent VEX Robotics team called MJS Robotics.

They have just qualified to compete for the VEX Robotics World Championship, the largest robotics competition in the world. This is nothing new, however, for the erudite family. This will be their seventh time competing on an international level.

This year, MJS Robotics won third place in the state competition. They will attend the world championships held in Dallas, Texas on April 24 – 28. Only 13 teams from Washington, out of 200, qualified to compete.

The family’s love for robotics all started with the two oldest siblings, Mikkel and Mikayla.

Mikayla, 18, explained that the family began building robots when they lived in Hawaii. When she was in fifth grade and Mikkel was in seventh, they both joined their middle school’s robotics club.

“At first, our team wasn’t doing that well, but then my dad gave my brother a robotics kit for his birthday, and that’s where we got started,” Mikayla recalled.