On March 30-31, School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. will present its 13th annual Long Island FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at Hofstra University. Doors open at 9 a.m.

Fifty teams from Long Island, the metropolitan New York City area, Pennsylvania and Ohio will take part in this year’s competition, “Rebound RumbleSM.” In “Rebound RumbleSM,” two alliances of three teams compete on a 27-by-54-foot playing field as they try to score as many of the basketballs in the hoops as possible during the 2-minute, 15-second match. Balls scored in higher hoops score Alliances more points. Alliances are awarded bonus points if they are balanced on bridges at the end of the match. In matches where opponent Alliances work together to balance on the white bridge, all participating teams earn additional valuable seeding points.

The students will compete for honor and recognition that reward design quality, sportsmanship, competitive play and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities. This event is free and open to the public.

FIRST was founded by inventor Dean Kamen, who first introduced the Segway™ Human Transporter (HT) more than five years ago. He created FIRST with a goal to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people, their schools and their communities. Currently in its 25th year, the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2012 will reach more than 51,000 high-school-aged young people from more than 2,070 teams in regional events representing every state in the United States and several other countries, including Israel and Brazil. More than 1,200 students will compete in the Long Island Regional to earn a spot at the FRC Championship on April 26-28 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.