Following the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition Kick Off Event that was held at Stony Brook University on Saturday, January 7, the FIRST Long Island build season is officially underway. Presented by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI), the event hosted students, mentors and parents from 48 FIRST Long Island teams, who gathered in anticipation of learning the official rules for FIRST STEAMWORKSSM.

Described by FIRST as a competition that “invites two adventurers’ clubs, in an era where steam power reigns, to prepare their airships for a long-distance race,” FIRST STEAMWORKS is every part the ode to a time gone by. During the competition, two 3-team alliances will take to the playing field to complete a variety of tasks in an effort to score points and win the round and eventually advance to eliminations and finals.

As with all FIRST Robotics Competitions, FIRST STEAMWORKS will begin with a 15-second autonomous period, during which robots may only operate on pre-programmed instructions to complete one of three tasks and/or cross the baseline. During the remaining two minutes and 15 seconds, students will control the team robots to build steam pressure, start rotors and prepare for flight. Detailed instructions for each of these tasks are available in the official FIRST STEAMWORKS Overview and a visual description can be found in this animated video from FIRST.

As the theme of this year’s game, FIRST STEAMWORKS will be in full-force during the 2017 SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition scheduled to take place at Hofstra University on March 31 and April 1.