JAY — Legos of all shapes and colors filled the gym at Spruce Mountain High School on Saturday as 32 teams representing 26 schools competed in the Maine FIRST LEGO League Western Maine Qualifier.

Several local teams won awards and will move on to the state championship meet in December.

Because the FIRST LEGO League program has become so popular in Maine, three qualifying meets were needed this year. The Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team hosted one qualifier with the others held in Old Town and Kennebunk.

The theme this year is “Trash Trek.” Students in the after-school LEGO League program spent the fall investigating methods of trash disposal. They identified problems with those methods and developed new, creative and innovative ways to reduce the volume of materials entering landfills.

Each team also designed, built and programmed a robot using a LEGO Mindstorm kit. At the meet, the robots competed on a 4- by 8-foot table and scored points for completing assigned missions. Points were awarded based on the complexity of each task. Using recycled materials, transporting items, sorting materials, composting, salvage and demolition were some missions teams could attempt.

The morning was taken up with team presentations. Judges evaluated each team’s knowledge of core values, robot design and the innovative solution to a waste management problem. The teams were also judged on inspiration/team spirit, teamwork and gracious professionalism. Mechanical design and programming of the robot were also scored, along with strategy and initiative for each team.

In the afternoon, three matches, each 2½ minutes long, were held for each team. The highest score for each team was added to the morning scores to determine award winners and which teams were eligible to move on. A team could earn up to 1,256 points in a match.

Among teams moving on to the state meet are The 7th Sense from Auburn; This Chicken is Too Spicy from Lewiston; Smart Fun Engineers from Farmington and Apple Masters from New Sharon. Three Spruce Mountain Middle School teams also advanced. The names of those teams are Talk Nerdy to Me, Really Inconvenient and Wall-EEE.

Teams from South Paris, Buckfield, Bethel, Caratunk, Winslow, Windsor, Damariscotta, Waterville, South China, Cornville, Lawrence and Hallowell also advanced. Six teams are rookie teams competing for the first time.

The Against All Odds Award went to the Vinalhaven Lucky Lobsters team. This team had to travel by ferry, then drive a considerable distance to compete. The team must also stay overnight in Rockland.

The Smart Fun Engineers team from Farmington won the Judges’ Award. It also earned first place in performance. The team’s second match was the best of the day with a score of 332.

First place for Inspiration went to Talk Nerdy to Me from Jay.

Bag Plastic, a team from South Paris, earned second place in the Champions Award. The team had a weighted score of 95.49 from a possible 120 total.

Wall-EEE, a team from Jay, was presented the Champions Award. The team had a weighted score of 98.13.

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