Blue Crew FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6153 members and mentors gather at Mt. Blue High School Jan. 4 for the FIRST Robotics Competition kickoff event in Farmington. Submitted photo

FARMINGTON — The Blue Crew FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6153, based at Mt. Blue High School, kicked off its 2025 season with energy and purpose, hosting a series of events aimed at promoting STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] values while gearing up for this year’s FIRST [For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology] Robotics Competition.

According to the team’s mission statement, their goal is “to spread STEM values in our community to help create the next generation of problem solvers and thinkers.” The goal is to engage students in surrounding schools and encourage them to pursue careers in engineering, computer technology, mathematics and more.

On Jan. 4, Blue Crew celebrated the launch of their 2025 season during the FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff. Lucy Knowles, Blue Crew member,  highlighted the activities of the day, including two presentations.

“During our kickoff event, we were lucky enough to have two presentations,” she said. “The first consisted of one of our FIRST alumni, Erik Taylor, giving a presentation on the importance of understanding and upholding the values of FIRST in our team, school and community. Following this presentation, we had another FIRST alum, Lily Bailey, as well as one of our current students, Mason Labonte, give a presentation on disability awareness titled ‘Reframing Disability.’ These presentations help us teach members about the importance of inclusivity on our team, as well as ensuring our team embodies FIRST ideals.”

After the presentations, the team watched the official game reveal for the 2025 season. “The FIRST Robotics Competition game this year is called Reefscape and is focused on bringing awareness to sustainability in our oceans,” Knowles explained. “The game this year involves two alliances of three teams competing against each other to score the most points in the two minute and 30 second time limit. The robots this year will need to collect and score two different game pieces called ‘coral’ and ‘algae’ and at the end of the match will need to climb on a hanging metal cage.”

“The team is very excited about the game this year,” Knowles added. “Many of our members are predicting this game will be more difficult as compared to games in the past years due to the level of precision needed to climb and place game pieces. However, we have started prototyping and are very excited to see where our ideas take us, as we already have a good idea of how the robot will look.”

The kickoff marks the beginning of an intense season for Blue Crew. “After kickoff, our members will be designing, prototyping and building this year’s robot, as well as continuing to work on the business team designing T-shirts and getting sponsorships,” Knowles said. “Many of our members will likely spend numerous hours after school and on weekends helping get the team ready.”

In addition to the physical building and strategic planning, the team is focusing on fostering teamwork and communication, skills critical to their success in competitions Knowles said.

Blue Crew is also preparing to host the Maine Lego League State Championship Feb. 1 at Mt. Blue High School.

“This event will be hosted by our team, and we are expecting more than 30 participating teams from all over the state of Maine,” Knowles said. “FIRST Lego League is a robotics competition geared toward middle schoolers where students build Lego robots to complete as many tasks as possible in a time frame of two minutes and 30 seconds. This year, the Blue Crew has helped restart the Mt. Blue Middle School Lego League team, and we are excited to see them compete locally.”

The team’s first major competition of the season will take place March 1-2 at Falmouth High School. With the “Reefscape” challenge proving to be a unique and technical test, members are dedicating countless hours to ensure their robot is ready to compete. “We’re ready to show this season what we’re made of,” Knowles said, expressing the team’s optimism and determination.

Attendees at the Blue Crew Robotics kickoff event Jan. 4 discuss strategies for the upcoming “Reefscape” challenge in Farmington. Submitted photo