Students Showcase Engineering Skills at the SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition

March 27, 2014 - PRLog -- Who: High school teams from Long Island, New York City, New Jersey, and Brazil will participate in the 15^th Annual SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competitionfor an opportunity to be awarded for design excellence, sportsmanship, teamwork, and problem-solving, and advance to the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, Missouri. (Participating teams are listed at the end of this advisory.)

What: This year’s challenge, "Aerial Assist^SM", is played by two Alliances of three teams each. Alliances compete by trying to score as many balls as possible into goals during a two-and-a-half-minute match. Additional points are earned by robots working together to score goals, and by throwing and catching balls over a truss suspended just over five feet above the floor as they move the ball down the field.

The FRC^® is a program that challenges high school students — working with mentors — to design, build, and program a robot for competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students. Teams in the SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition will vie for regional awards and a spot at the FIRST Championship to be held April 24-27, at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.

The competition is a program of FIRST, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to inspire young people’s interest and participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

When:       Thursday, March 27

8:00 a.m.-noon — Robot testing and inspection

10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. — Practice rounds

Friday, March 28

8:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. — Opening ceremonies

9:00 am-5:00 p.m. — Qualifying matches

5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. — Day 1 awards ceremony

Saturday, March 29

8:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. — Opening ceremonies

9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. — Qualifying matches

1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. — Final rounds

4:30 p.m.-5:30 pm — Awards & closing ceremonies

Where:          David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex (Arena)

North Campus, Hofstra University
Hempstead, N.Y.

Directions:     Exit M4 off the Meadowbrook Parkway, Route 24 West (Hempstead Turnpike). Stay on 24W for about one mile. Go past Nassau Coliseum and make the first right after the first overhead walkway (this is the main entrance into the campus). Make a right at the stop sign onto Northern Boulevard. The second building on the right is the Hofstra Arena. Follow signs to parking.

Photo Ops:    Teams presenting their robots for the first time after six weeks of building and programming. Students testing, tuning up, and competing with their original robots. Alliances attempting to score as many points as possible during matches. Mentors, school groups, school mascots, family, and fans cheering on teams.

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About School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc.

School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (http://www.sbpli-lifirst.org/) (SBPLI) was founded in 1984 by Fred Breithut with the goal of developing partnerships between local high schools and businesses that would provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce. Over 100 partnerships have been formed. In 1999, SBPLI brought the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition to Long Island, in which eight high school teams participated. Since then, the Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition has grown to 50 teams competing each year. SBPLI also hosts Long Island’s annual FIRST LEGO League Qualifying and Championship Tournaments and the Junior FIRST LEGO League Expo, in which over 1,300 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. For more information, visit  http://www.sbpli-lifirst.org.

About FIRST^®

Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen (http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/bio/dean-l-kamen) founded FIRST (http://www.usfirst.org/)^® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in 1989 to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $18 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST^® Robotics Competition (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc) (FRC^® ) for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST^® Tech Challenge (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/ftc) (FTC^® ) for Grades 7-12; FIRST^® LEGO^® League (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll) (FLL^® ) for Grades 4-8; and Junior FIRST^® LEGO^®League (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/jr.fll) (Jr.FLL^®) for Grades K-3. Gracious Professionalism (http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/gracious-professionalism)^® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to www.usfirst.org.

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FIRST^®and FRC^® are registered trademarks, and Gracious Professionalism^™ is a common law trademark, of the United States Foundation For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (U.S. FIRST).

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LIST OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

SUFFOLK COUNTY

Bay Shore

Brentwood
Center Moriches

Central Islip

Comsewogue

Connetquot

Copiague

Half Hollow Hills

Hampton Bays

Hauppauge

Huntington

Lindenhurst

Longwood

Miller Place

Northport

Patchogue-Medford

Pierson

Port Jefferson

Sachem

Sayville

Smithtown

Southold

Walt Whitman

West Islip

Westhampton Beach

NASSAU COUNTY

Baldwin

Carle Place

Cold Spring Harbor

Great Neck South

Hicksville

Island Trees

Malverne

North Shore

Oceanside

Paul D. Schreiber

Plainedge

Plainview-Old Bethpage

Roosevelt

Seaford

The Wheatley School

Uniondale

W.T. Clarke

Westbury

TEAMS FROM OTHER REGIONS

Curtis High School, Staten Island, NY

Eastern Camden County Regional High Schools, Voorhees, NJ

Herbert H. Lehman High School, Bronx, NY

John Dewey High School, Brooklyn, NY

Marista Pio XII High School, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil

Queens Vocational and Technical HS, Long Island City, NY

William E. Grady Technical School, Brooklyn, NY