DeKALB – The eight members of Plastic Masters are preparing for natural disasters.

“Each of the boys has picked a natural disaster that they are going to be researching,” said Bruce McKendry of DeKalb. McKendry’s son, Bradley, 11, is a member of the local LEGO robotics team.

Plastic Masters are part of the First LEGO League, which consists of more than 20,000 members in more than 70 countries. The competitive teams can have up to 10 members from ages 9 to 14, and have at least one adult coach. Teams use LEGO Mindstorm computer modules to program LEGO robots to perform simulated real-world tasks on a tabletop scale.