On March 30, FIRST Long Island concluded its weeklong SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, which was held March 26-27 and March 29-30 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Between both events, 85 teams from Long Island, the metropolitan New York area, upstate New York, New Jersey, Texas, China, Chinese Taipei, Norway and Turkey competed. The event culminated with awards and honors (noted below) for areas such as design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.

The winner of the 2019 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 was the three-team alliance made up of the “RoboTigers” (Team #1796) from Queens Technical High School; “TEAM R.I.C.E.” (Team #870) from Southold Junior-Senior High School; and the “Thundercolts” (Team #3624) from Half Hollow Hills High School East & Half Hollow Hills High School West in Huntington Station. Following the Regional, “Longwood Robotics” (Team #564) from Longwood High School in Middle Island took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. These teams are now eligible to compete at the 2019 FIRST^® Championship presented by Qualcomm^® Incorporated, at either the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 17-20 or the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan on April 24-27.

Five other teams set to head to the 2019 FIRST Championship presented by Qualcomm Incorporated this year are 2019 Wild Card Winners “G.R.R. (Greater Rochester Robotics)” (Team #340) from Churchville-Chili Senior High School in Churchville and “Aftershock” (Team #263) from Sachem High Schools North and East in Ronkonkoma; Regional Engineering Inspiration Award winners “Mineola Wild Reds” (Team #6806) from Mineola High School; and 2019 Rookie All Star Winners the “ThunderMiners” (Team #7400), a family/community squad from Melville.

Now in its 20th season, 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 DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE^SM Presented by The Boeing Company, in which two three-team alliances attempted to complete a variety of tasks in order to score points and win the round, with the hopes of eventually advancing to eliminations and finals. This year’s competition proved to be more challenging, as human drivers had their visibility limited for the first 15 seconds of a game due to a “sandstorm” as the robots are deployed from their habitat, prepare the rockets and cargo ship with hatch panels and load the cargo pods onto their rockets and cargo ship. The robots were either independently operated or controlled by their human drivers via video from their stations. Once the “sandstorm” clears, the alliances have two minutes and 15 seconds to prepare the rockets and cargo ship with hatch panels, load as many cargo pods as possible and return the robot to its Habitat.

FIRST Long Island presented Board Members Frank Langro and Jeffrey Stern with the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Awards for their continued and steadfast commitment to the organization. Brian Costello, Team Mentor, Smithtown High School Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” received the Regional Woodie Flowers Award.

Zebra Technologies, which was a title sponsor along with FIRST Long Island, provided data analytics for the tournament, measuring the distances and speeds at which the robots traveled during the qualifying and playoff rounds. The robot that traveled the greatest distance during the Qualifying Tournament belonged to Spencerport High School Team #3015 “Ranger Robotics” at 616 feet. Queens Technical High School Team #1796 “RoboTigers” was second, traveling 610 feet. In third place was Churchville-Chili Senior High School Team #340 “G.R.R. (Greater Rochester Robotics)” with 593 feet. Including the playoff matches, the greatest distance traveled was 5,297 feet by Queens Technical High School Team #1796 “RoboTigers.”

The fastest robot during the qualifying matches belonged to Queens Technical High School Team #1796 “RoboTigers,” going 16.7 feet per second, followed by Patchogue-Medford High School Team #329 “Mohawks” (14.04 feet per second) and Churchville-Chili Senior High School Team #340 “G.R.R. (Greater Rochester Robotics).”

Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Abigail Holmes of Huntington High School Team #5016 “Huntington Robotics” and Sophia DiCuffa of Center Moriches High School Team #4458 “Infernobotix.” The Fred Breithut MVP Award was presented to Signe F. Kjøpsnes of Ole Vig Upper Secondary School Team #7239 “Hell Robotics” of Hell, Norway.

The Full List of Winners of the 2019 SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition Event #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 17-20 or the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan on April 24-27.

*** Denotes a rookie team.

Please Note: Photos of all Award Winners and Advancing Teams are available upon request.