More than 1,200 students from 50 high schools from Long Island, the New York metropolitan area, Pennsylvania and Ohio participated in School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.’s (SBPLI) 13th annual Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. The event took place on March 30-31 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Teams received honors and recognition that rewarded design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.

With the hope of winning one of several coveted awards, high school students worked with professional mentors to design and build a robot over a six-week timeframe using a kit of parts and a standard set of rules. The students gathered to compete with their robots in this year’s game, “Rebound RumbleSM,” in which two alliances of three teams competed on a 27-by-54-foot playing field with bridges, attempting to earn points by scoring as many basketballs into the hoops as possible. Additional points were earned for balancing robots on the bridges.

Members of the Uniondale High School Robotics Team #1537 work on the robots in the pit area in preparation for an upcoming game during “Rebound RumbleSM” at SBPLI’s 13th annual Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

Winners of the Long Island Regional awards include:

Award

Winner

Regional Chairman's Award*

Team 564, Longwood High School, Middle Island, NY

Regional Engineering Inspiration Award**

Team 2638, Great Neck South High School, Great Neck, NY

Regional Winner #1**

Team 527, Plainedge High School, North Massapequa, NY

Regional Winner #2**

Team 1796, Queens Vocational and Technical High School, Long Island City, NY

Regional Winner #3

Team 870, Southold Junior Senior High School, Southold, NY

Regional Finalist #1

Team 3137, Connetquot Central School District, Bohemia, NY

Regional Finalist #2

Team 329, Patchogue-Medford High School, Medford, NY

Regional Finalist #3

Team 353, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School, Plainview, NY

Underwriters Laboratory Industrial Safety Award

Team 329, Patchogue-Medford High School, Medford, NY

Highest Rookie Seed Award

Team 4006, Central Islip Senior High School, Central Islip, NY

Rookie All Star Award**

Team 3950, North Shore High School, Glen Head, NY

Rookie Inspiration Award

Team 4006, Central Islip Senior High School, Central Islip, NY

Chrysler Team Spirit Award

Team 353, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School, Plainview, NY

Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism

Team 358, Hauppauge High School, Hauppauge, NY

Motorola Quality Award

Team 527, Plainedge High School, North Massapequa, NY

Coopertition™ Award

Team 569, W.T. Clarke High School, Westbury, NY

General Motors Industrial Design Award

Team 1796, Queens Vocational and Technical High School, Long Island City, NY

Website Award

Team 353, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School, Plainview, NY

Judges Award

Team 1468, Hicksville High School, Hicksville, NY

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award

Team 884, Malverne High School, Malverne, NY

Delphi Engineering Excellence Award

Team 3137, Connetquot Central School District, Bohemia, NY

Xerox Creativity Award

Team 1751, Comsewogue High School, Port Jefferson Station, NY

Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award

Team 2875, Cold Spring Harbor High School, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen

Team 3059, Riverside Engineering & Design High School, Yonkers, NY

Musical Performance Award

Team 2872, The Wheatley School, Old Westbury, NY

* The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award of the event and recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and best represents a model for other teams to emulate.
** These teams are eligible to participate in the FRC Championship that will take place April 28-29 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.

SBPLI named Robert V. Kukta, Associate Professor and Director of the Undergraduate Program at Stony Brook University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Frank Saladino, a former Technology Teacher at Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, as its Volunteers of the Year. The Fred Breithut Award went to Edwin Meyer of Brentwood High School Robotics Team #3460. Robert Gandalfo, mentor for the Plainedge High School Robotics Team #527, received the Regional Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Emily Stern of the Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School Robotics Team #353 and Joshua Graber of the Great Neck South High School Robotics Team #2638.

Major sponsors for this year’s competition were SBPLI, Inc., Motorola Solutions Foundation, Festo Corporation, Hofstra University, School Construction Consultants, Inc., BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Stony Brook University, Farmingdale State College, Schenck Trebel Corporation, Mr. Scott Matovich and Family, and Estée Lauder Inc.

The event was covered by News 12, MSG Varsity, and The Island Now.