FIRST Age Mid-season Report (FLL Explore/Challenge, FTC)
FIRST LEGO League Explore
The 2025-2026 FIRST Age robotics season is well underway. The Fall FLL Explore teams are uncovering their treasure in the UNEARTHED challenge:
- Island View Teams 14504 and 14505
- Mount Erie Team 33293
FTC Team 7198 Mechanical Minks is developing a February Festival for the Explore teams that are finishing Jan/Feb. More teams are kicking off this Spring and another Festival will celebrate their success!
FIRST LEGO League Challenge
Three FLL Challenge teams (students from Island View, Mount Erie, Fidalgo, and Anacortes Middle School) have excavated their own innovative solutions to the UNEARTHED challenge:
- Team 57911 – Moo-F-O’s
- Team 62909 Legozoic
- Team 69086 Doers of Things
Months of intensive engineering, a Saturday at the Oak Harbor Jamboree, and a Sunday at the Anacortes FLL Challenge Scrimmage (image below) hosted by FTC Team 7198 Mechanical Minks have honed their competitive edges.
All three teams are scheduled to compete at their Qualifying Tournament THIS SUNDAY Dec. 14 at Oak Harbor High School! Cheer them on from approximately noon to 4pm during the Robot Game matches.
FIRST Tech Challenge
The students on the senior team supported by ARBC, AHS Robotics FTC Team 7198 Mechanical Minks, are exhibiting the finest of Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition and it is exciting to see them in action. At their 3rd and final Tournament of regular season play they worked close with the lone team member from FTC Team 22299 Chimacum Pi; supplying robot parts including a lift subsystem designed by the Minks, programming assistance, and even Drive Team players so that he could compete. After the Minks advanced to the playoff rounds as an Alliance Captain, they invited Chimicum Pi to their Alliance and played out their last matches in the tournament as partners.
(Above) Mechanical Minks invite Chimicum Pi to be their Pasteur League Tournament playoffs Alliance partner.
(Below) The combined Chimicum Pi (left) and Mechanical Minks (right) Drive Teams looked a bit odd with so many purple-shirted Minks on-board, but were cleared by the officials for competition.
All of their hard work, attention to Core Values, well-rounded performance, and good sportsmanship paid off – the Mechanical Minks received the 3rd-place Inspire Award (overall excellence) at the Pasteur League Tournament on Sunday Dec. 7th and had a tremendous amount of fun while doing it. Best of all, based on their total overall scores from judging and game play they are ADVANCING to the NEXT LEVEL of competition in Maple Valley at the Sunday Jan. 18 2026 Capek Super Qualifier!
