School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI), Inc. DBA FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 on March 24-26 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Forty-five teams from Long Island, New York City, upstate New York, the Dominican Republic, India, Turkey and Puerto Rico took part in the three-day FIRST Robotics Competition. This event culminated with awards and honors for areas such as design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.
 
The winner of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 was the three-team alliance made up of “Team R.I.C.E” (Team #870) from Southold High School, “StuyPulse” (Team #694) from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and Team #2869 “Regal Eagles” from Bethpage High School. “Hicksville J-Birds” (Team #1468) from Hicksville High School took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. “Real Eagles” (Team #2869) from Bethpage High School won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. The Wildcard went to “Redhawk Robotics” (Team #8739) from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture from Ozone Park. These teams are now eligible to compete at the 2022 FIRST Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 20-23.
 
Peter Beninati, Team Mentor, Team #1796 “RoboTigers” from Queens Technical High School, was named a Finalist for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Christopher Palazzo from Team #871 “Robotechs” from West Islip Senior High School and John Galletta from Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” from Smithtown High School-East & Smithtown High School-West.
 
“This was one of the best SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competitions we’ve experienced,” says Bertram Dittmar, Executive Director, SBPLI. “All participating teams demonstrated tremendous teamwork, gracious professionalism™ and critical thinking. The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students and mentors got caught up in the spirit of the event. Participants, volunteers, and sponsors had the opportunity to experience the beauty of engineering and technology combined with the excitement of a competitive event.”
 
As a FIRST® Robotics Competition, the SBPLI Long Island Regional featured teams of high school-aged students from across Long Island, the New York metropolitan area and even around the world competing in a cooperative tournament-style robotics competition. Guided by their mentors, students rely on their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to compete for honors and recognition that reward design excellence, competitive play and sportsmanship. This high-energy event further emphasizes the importance of high-impact partnerships between students, universities, businesses, and communities.
 
This year’s competition was dubbed RAPID REACTSM presented by The Boeing Company. In RAPID REACT, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport.

The Full List of Winners of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 Awards Include:

* 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 2019 FIRST® Championship presented by Qualcomm® Incorporated at either the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 20-23.
*** Denotes a rookie team.