FARMINGTON — A team of students from Farmington won the first place trophy in the FIRST LEGO ® League statewide competition last weekend at the Augusta Civic Center.

The winning team was named The Smokebusters because their chosen mission, inspired by this year’s Body Forward theme, was to focus on the function of the lung, teenage smoking, and work being done to repair damaged lungs.

Team members are Mitch Guillaume, Dylan Roberts, Alex Morrell, Grace Andrews and Nicole Pires of Mt. Blue Middle School, and Ben Andrews of Cascade Brook School. Team coaches were Jan and Ellen Roberts and Linda Beck.

“It was amazing to watch them compete. They really rose to the occasion and you could tell they were really enjoying themselves,” Ellen Roberts said Monday. “They really shined.”

“It was true teamwork that got them the award,” Jan Roberts said.

The team is expected to be invited to a national FIRST LEGO ® competition to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the spring.

The competition Saturday was in two parts: an original research presentation and skit, which counted for 50 percent of the score, and the robot design and programming.

Teams were also scored on teamwork, team spirit and T-shirt design, as well as showing respect, encouragement and “gracious professionalism” both in and out of the arena, according to the program.

“The robot didn’t perform as well as the kids would have liked but there were so many other things they did right,” Ellen Roberts said.

In the afternoon, five-minute skits were presented behind closed doors and judges questioned teams on their research.

“They did a great job with their play, and during the day, they gave out buttons they had designed to people who pledged not to smoke,” she said. “The judges were really impressed with them.”

The Smokebusters also were awarded first prize for quality design, a recognition for the most mechanically dependable, solid and extraordinary robot.

Each robot entry had to complete 12 missions. Among the tasks The Smokebusters chose were to have their robot deliver a LEGO cardiac pacemaker and patch to a heart; put bionic eyes on a body; and get a doctor, biomedical engineer and a patient to a patient area.

Each team built its own unique robot and had to program the missions in their own unique way, she said.

“Everyone had their successes and challenges,” Ellen Roberts said.

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