FARMINGTON — The Blue Crew from Mt. Blue Foster Career and Technical Education Center competed in the FIRST Robotics Competition North Shore Event in Reading, Massachusetts March 16 and 17.

The team had a very solid performance with their robot “Hatchcalibur” by finishing in 17th position out of 38 teams after the qualification matches and was the 1st pick of the 5th place alliance for playoff rounds. That Alliance was eliminated in quarterfinals.

As part of the competition, the Blue Crew was specifically recognized by being presented the Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors. This award celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively addresses the game challenge.

The team’s product and process reflect the mission of FIRST by demonstrating sound technology development from start to finish. The judges’ specific comments were: “Many teams can build a functional robot and many teams can design a good looking one. This team did both and then went beyond to implement design choices that we see in real-world engineering. They were able to quickly and effectively service their robot, using forward-thinking choices in the design. By utilizing stock parts, they keep the costs low and have made repairs easy. They certainly met all of our MAINE expectations for industrial design and definitely BLUE our minds.”

Strategy and robot mentor Joel Pike of Jay felt the team really deserved this award.

“A lot of time and effort was put into designing the robot this year and the students learned a great deal about the constraints you can run into in real life as engineers. Even though it is complex, it was also designed to be serviced in a quick manner. Just before the competition started we identified an issue with our main drive gearboxes and we removed them from the robot, completely rebuilt both of them, and had them back on the robot in just over an hour and were able to get on the field for our first match of the day.  Everyone contributed to our success this weekend including all of the students and all of the families that traveled down to the event,” Pike said

This was the Blue Crew’s first official event of the season after having built and programmed the approximately 125-pound robot to compete in this year’s game DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE, presented by the Boeing Company.

This year’s game has two competing alliances, with three teams on each alliance, collecting samples on Planet Primus. Unpredictable terrain and weather patterns make remote robot operation essential to their mission on the planet.

With only 2 minutes and 30 seconds until liftoff, the alliances must gather as many cargo pods as possible and prepare their spaceships before the next sandstorm arrives. This requires the robots to manipulate two very different game elements – a large Lexan disc and a 13-inch dodgeball – and place them in specific positions, some of which are almost eight feet in the air.

The Blue Crew team mascot, R2-Blue2, also made the trip and was a must-see for many at the event. It is a fully functional, 3D printed, life-sized R2-D2 replica.

R2 could normally be found in the pit area but at times would wander around the event and had a short time on the playing field during the finals as a demo for the entire crowd. The team handed out R2-Blue2 themed pins and hats for the kids.

The Blue Crew’s next event is the FRC New England District Pine Tree Event, presented by United Technologies, held in Lewiston at the Androscoggin Bank Colisée on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6.   https://nefirst.org/event/ne-district-pine-tree-event/

This is a free event that is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.  32 teams from around New England will be competing.  Right now Blue Crew is in 61st place in New England and is positioned to qualify for the New England Championship event that will be hosted at Worcester Polytechnic Institute the following week provided the team can raise adequate funds for the travel.

FIRST Robotics Competition pairs high school students with adult mentors (primarily engineers and teachers) to design and build robots that compete against one another in a high-energy environment.

This varsity Sport for the Mind™ combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. Under strict rules, limited resources and time limits, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and build and program robots to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. It’s as close to “real-world” engineering as a student can get.

For further information on the team, you can visit their website at http://www.bluecrew6153.org.

More information on FIRST robotics can be found at https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc.

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