On Saturday, Dec. 16, three Boothbay Region High School Robotics teams competed in a qualifying match hosted in Yarmouth at Frank H. Harrison Middle School.

This year’s VEX Robotics competition, “Over Under,” requires teams to score green “triballs” in a goal for 5 points each, or in their offensive zone for 2 points each. Many robots, including our own teams’, used catapults or flywheels to rocket the triballs across the field. This led to some exciting matches!

The Yarmouth qualifier initially consisted of 42 teams, with 38 teams finishing the event. Each team, in alliance with a second randomly selected team from one of the other schools in attendance, competed in seven matches throughout the initial round.

At the completion of the qualifying matches, our teams placed as follows:

-Mug Mafia (Afton Warren-Burdin and Kolton Campbell) were in 3rd place;

-The Wicked (Duncan Hardwick, Josh LaBrecque, and Brett Smith) were in 13th place;

-Anything But Chad (Finn Gaffney and Hannah Hills) were in 32nd place.

At this point in the match, the round of 16 began. Mug Mafia allied with a team from York called Lighthouse Lobstahs. They went on to win their first match, 85 to 64. The Wicked and Anything But Chad allied together, but were defeated in the first round with a score of 90 to 65.

Mug Mafia and Lighthouse Lobstahs went on to the quarterfinals. In their next match, they were met with significant adversity when their alliance partner’s robot got stuck, and then their own robot was flipped over by their opponent! With Cambell’s expert driving skills, they managed to right themselves, but without enough time to make up for points lost. The match ended with a score of 102-55. The team they lost to, from Fryeburg, went on to place 2nd in the
competition. An alliance from Yarmouth won Saturday’s competition.

All three of our teams had a great time at the competition and are looking forward to their next opportunity to qualify for the state finals. Teams that place first and second at any qualifying match automatically earn a spot in the state finals. Since Campbell and Warren-Burdin were so close at the Yarmouth qualifier, they are excited to make a few modifications to their robot and compete again in Bangor on Jan. 6 and in Monmouth on Feb. 3.

“I’m feeling very optimistic about the next competition. We need to make some improvements, but I feel we have a good chance of making it to states,” says Campbell.

Robotics teachers Chris Liberti and Kristen Hanley are looking forward to the next competition, as the BRHS teams are very strong this year.

To learn more about VEX Robotics, visit https://www.vexrobotics.com/ or The Robotics Institute of Maine at https://www.rimaine.org/.