The Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston will be hosting its inaugural FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Regional Event in the Spring of 2013. The Pine Tree Regional Competition will host 40 high school robotics teams from around the world, attract over 2,000 spectators, and turn the ice arena into a competition field to play the game to be released in January 2013.

Currently, there are 10 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams in Maine, who are all looking forward to this opportunity of having a regional competition in their home state.

The planning committee for this event is comprised of 12 people from the region and includes educators, engineers, medical professionals, and more.

The challenge now is for the committee to raise $100,000 to host the event at the Colisee. There will also be a need for hundreds of volunteers to run the event, both technical and non-technical.

Interested members of the community who would like to support this event with donations or by volunteering should contact the committee at pinetreeregional@gmail.com.  For donations please make checks payable to FIRST Pine Tree Regional and send to

FIRST, 200 Bedford Street, Manchester, NH 03101-1103

FIRST was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen of Deka Research and Development Corporation. In 2012 - 13, there will be more than 2700 FRC teams competing with over 54,000 high school students from around the world. FIRST participants have exclusive access to over $15 million in college scholarships from over 600 scholarship opportunities. Robots seen in this competition are built in 6 weeks from a common kit of parts and weigh about 150 pounds. The competition season consists of 57 regional competitions culminating in the World Championship in St. Louis, MO in late April.