Students in Emily Higgins's robotics class were engrossed on Friday, Nov. 18, synchronizing the nuts and bolts and gears and engines needed to operate their robots. A challenge taking place in a little more than two weeks is a big motivator. On Saturday, Dec. 3, Boothbay Region High School will be one of 36 teams competing in a VEX Robotics competition at Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale. Teams battle one another and a winner moves on, until the 36 are whittled down to two.

VEX Robotics is the company that supplies course curriculum and materials. It also sponsors different contests. “The course is a regular BRHS course and is funded by the district,” said Higgins. “The class is offered in the fall semester so we can compete in tournaments that will let us progress to states and beyond, depending on how well students perform.” The high school began offering the class in 2011, using Lego Mindstorms. In fall 2014, they switched to VEX, passing the Legos to the middle school.

The competition on Dec. 3 is called “Starstruck.” A series of clubs and stars strategically placed on either side of a fence separate the field at the halfway point. Two teams, or alliances, use robots to try to move the stars and cubes over to their opponent's side.

“One person operates the robot, while two members of the team advise and strategize,” Higgins explained. Cool heads must prevail, which is often why the 'driver' of the robot has a gaming background. Gamers are used to focusing on video games and don't get flustered easily, Higgins said.

The class is making six robots. Two will be knocked out of competition during class, prior to the contest at Hall-Dale.

Do students come to class knowing how to build robots? “No,” Higgins said. “I have them build an animatron before we move into putting together a robot supplied by VEX. After that, we move into designing and building the robots you're seeing today.”

These metallic things appear to be a cross of the erector sets kids used in the 1950s and ’60s and modern day Lego sets. Each robot serves a different function, according to how they will be used in competition. BRHS junior Jon Rollins's robot, sometimes called Bob, has a front-end plow, perfect for pushing cubes and stars under the fence, over to the other side. He flicks on the engine and the robot turns on a dime.

Connor Demmons and Hailey Greenleaf's robot, Sturla (a unisex name) has full extension and the capability to pluck the stars off the fence and drop them into the next county. Further down the table, Lovely Uberita shows off the pointy picks on the end of the nameless robot she's working on.

BRHS has won robotics prizes before. Last year, the school won the Sportsmanship Award. This year? The robots are coming, and they mean business.