UPDATE: Friday – 3/28/2014, 4:31 p.m.

The Girl Scout team, the Roving Raptors, earned the Inspire Award at the global competition in Anaheim, Calif.

The award is presented to a team that demonstrates outstanding leadership in embracing the concept of cooperative learning by sharing their ideas with other teams.

In addition to the great honor, the girls also volunteered approximately 70 man hours to support the competition.

EARLIER: Friday – 3/28/2014, 4:31 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Several years ago, Jen Gerstman was introduced to robotics the same way many Washingtonians are introduced to new topics — on the Metro.

She was taking her daughter to camp at the Smithsonian; when she began talking to a man who was head of the camp’s robotics program. At the end of the week, he invited her to stop by to see what robotics is all about.

“And then I was hooked,” says Gerstman, who is a mom of three young girls and a Girl Scout troop leader in Charles County, Md. “When he showed it to me and he showed [me] the kids who are doing it, I thought,