JAY — The Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team will host the Central Maine ?First Lego League Qualifier from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Spruce Mountain High School.

Thirty-one teams from western Maine will bring their Lego robots and research projects for a day of competition, excitement and learning. Teams formed early in the fall and are part of the International First Lego League program.

This year’s SMART theme is animal allies, which has children looking into human and animal interaction. Each team picks a topic related to human and animal interaction and researches solutions to a problem and presents their work at the qualifier. Each team identifies a problem when people and animals interact, designs ?a solution that makes the interaction better for animals, people or both, and shares ?its problem and solution with others.

Among the sponsors of this year’s Maine event is Maine Robotics, a Maine nonprofit dedicated to getting children interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Local teams participating include:

• The Clan of Mor’du, Spruce Mountain Middle School, Jay;

• The Elvers, Spruce Mountain Middle School, Jay;

• The Husky Wizards, Spruce Mountain Middle School, Jay;

• The Jaguar Jedi, Spruce Mountain Middle School, Jay;

• Trail Hounds, Oxford Hills Homeschool Robotics Club, Paris;

• The Dark Side, Spruce Mountain Middle School, Jay;

• Hartford Sumner Wolves, Nezinscot Region of Regional School Unit 10, Buckfield;

• Buckfield Bots, Nezinscot Region of RSU 10, Buckfield;

• The Seventh Sense — I See LEGO People, Auburn Middle School, 21st CCLC Afterschool Program, Auburn;

• Brickmasters, School Administrative District 44, Bethel;

• R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddies), Lewiston Middle School, Lewiston;

• Smart Fun Engineers, Smart Fun Learning Adventures, Farmington;

• Short Clones, Lewiston Middle School, Lewiston;

• Supreme Commanders of the Robotic Forces, East Winthrop Baptist Church Education Center, Winthrop; and

• Hot Dogs Oxford Hills Homeschool Robotics Club, Paris.

FMI: www.mainerobotics.org, 207-866-4340.