SBPLI is proud to announce that members of the organization’s FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) Team #810, “The Mechanical Bulls” from Smithtown High School, have created a FIRST STRONGHOLD™-themed LEGO™ set. Team members Matthew Quigley and Emily McDermott, each from Smithtown, New York, submitted the set to the LEGO company for consideration of turning it into a commercially-available product. 

The set, which is based on the theme of the 2016 FRC Season (FIRST STRONGHOLD), comes complete with imperial-era castle defenses and LEGO figures mimicked after FIRST Founder Dean Kamen and Executive Director Woodie Flowers. The official name that was submitted is FIRST STRONGHOLD: Blue Alliance, an ode to the red and blue alliances that are incorporated in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

With a high volume of toy set ideas pitched to the company, LEGO requires more than just a great design. Matthew and Emily’s design must also go through a petitioning process, which requires 10,000 votes on the LEGO website. Voters will be required to create an account with LEGO, which is an easy process. The set is currently among the “Popular This Week” sets and already has more than 2,000 votes.

“Though the team members still need nearly 80 percent of the required votes, we’re confident that they will be able to make it through this portion of the vetting process,” says Deb Winter and Dave Johnson, FRC Co-Directors, SBPLI. “We’re asking all Long Islanders to help build support for our program by taking the time – less than five minutes – to vote for this LEGO set.”

To vote for the FIRST STRONGHOLD: Blue Alliance LEGO set, visit https://ideas.lego.com/projects/132444.

For more information about SBPLI and its robotics programs, please visit www.sbpli.org.