Boothbay Region High School Advanced Robotics and Applied Physics students participated in their final qualifying competition of the VEX Robotics 2023-2024 season on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Monmouth Memorial School. Thirty-eight teams competed from schools around the state including York, Scarborough, Lincoln Academy and Fryeburg Academy. The competition was fierce, as many teams have substantially improved their robots over the course of the
competition season.

Representing BRHS were three teams: Afton Warren-Burdin, Zander Blake and Kolton Campbell competing as “Mug Mafia;” Finn Gaffney, with assistance from Matthias Fanslau, competing as “Anything but Chad;” and Brett Smith, Duncan Hardwick and Robbie Shaw representing team “Wicked.”

Mug Mafia already qualified for the state competition at a previous meet, but still placed 2nd in the overall rankings at the end of the qualifying rounds. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the round of 16. Anything but Chad finished 20th and Wicked finished 10th. Anything but Chad was also eliminated in the Round of 16, but team Wicked, who made it to the quarterfinals, earned enough points in the skills competition – a separate part where teams compete against the clock to score as many points as they can in one minute – to qualify for the state competition as well.

Teams will continue to modify and improve their robots prior to the state competition, which will take place in South Portland at The Point on Saturday, March 9 beginning at 9 a.m. Parents and families are welcome to attend. For more information, please see https://www.vexrobotics.com/