School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI), Inc. DBA FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 on March 21-23 and its Regional #2 on March 24-26 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Eighty-four teams from Long Island, New York City, upstate New York, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Turkey, Puerto Rico and India took part in the three-day FIRST Robotics Competitions. The events culminated with awards and honors for areas such as design excellence, competitive play, sportsmanship and high-impact partnerships among schools, businesses and communities.
The winner of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 was the three-team alliance made up of “Team R.I.C.E” (Team #870) from Southold High School, “HURRICANES” (Team #3171) from Westhampton Beach High School and “CyberCats” (Team #2872) from The Wheatley School in Old Westbury. “Rebel Robotics” (Team #2638) from Great Neck South High School took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. “R Factor” (Team #6024) from Mumbai, India won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award.
The winner of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 was the three-team alliance made up of “Team R.I.C.E” (Team #870) from Southold High School, “StuyPulse” (Team #694) from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and Team #2869 “Regal Eagles” from Bethpage High School. “Hicksville J-Birds” (Team #1468) from Hicksville High School took home the coveted Chairman’s Award, which is the event’s most prestigious award. It recognizes the team that best embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST and that best represents a model for other teams to emulate. “Real Eagles” (Team #2869) from Bethpage High School won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. The Wildcard went to “Redhawk Robotics” (Team #8739) from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture from Ozone Park.
These winning teams are now eligible to compete at the 2022 FIRST Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 20-23.
During the award ceremony at the Long Island Regional #1, Samuel Kruse, a mentor with Team #5736 “Kingsmen Robotics” from Kings Park High School, was named a Finalist for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Stuti Bhatia of Team #6024 “R Factor” from Mumbai, India and Ashley Snyder of Team #527 “Red Dragons” from Plainedge High School in Massapequa.
The Long Island Regional #2 award ceremony named Peter Beninati, a mentor with Team #1796 “RoboTigers” from Queens Technical High School, as a Finalist for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Christopher Palazzo from Team #871 “Robotechs” from West Islip Senior High School and John Galletta from Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” from Smithtown High School-East & Smithtown High School-West.
“This was one of the best SBPLI Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competitions we’ve experienced,” said SBPLI Executive Director Bertram Dittmar. “All participating teams demonstrated tremendous teamwork, gracious professionalism™ and critical thinking. The fun and excitement of the competition was evident as many students and mentors got caught up in the spirit of the event. Participants, volunteers, and sponsors had the opportunity to experience the beauty of engineering and technology combined with the excitement of a competitive event.”
As a FIRST® Robotics Competition, 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 RAPID REACTSM presented by The Boeing Company. In RAPID REACT, two competing alliances are invited to process cargo for transportation. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the hub. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from within their terminals. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots race to engage with their hangar to prepare for transport.
The Full List of Winners of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 Awards Include:
| AWARD | TEAM # | TEAM NAME | SCHOOL/TOWN |
| Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen |
5016 | Huntington Robotics | Huntington High School/Huntington |
| Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award | 2872 | CyberCats | The Wheatley School/Old Westbury |
| Xerox Creativity Award | 3171 | HURRICANES | Westhampton Beach High School/Westhampton Beach |
| Delphi Excellence in Engineering Award | 1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/Hicksville |
| Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award | 7567 | SESI SENAI SÃO PAULO OCTOPUS | Centro Educacional SESI 296/Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil |
| General Motors Industrial Design Award | 358 | Robotic Eagles | Hauppauge High School/
Hauppauge |
| Ford Autonomous Award | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/ Southold |
| Motorola Solutions Foundation Quality Award | 2487 | Mechanical Animals | Sayville High School/Sayville |
| Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism | 2027 | Robotic Dragons | Westbury High School/Westbury |
| FCA Foundation Team Spirit Award |
6423 | Ward Melville Iron Patriots | Ward Melville Sr. High School/
East Setauket |
| Judges’ Award | 2869 | Regal Eagles | Bethpage High School/Bethpage |
| Regional Finalist #1 | 2638 | Rebel Robotics | Great Neck South High School/
Great Neck |
| Regional Finalist #2 | 1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/Hicksville |
| Regional Finalist #3 | 6911 | SO BOTZ | Tappan Zee High School/
Orangeburg, NY |
| Regional Finalist #4 | 8267 | Riptide Robotics | Long Beach High School/
Long Beach |
| Regional Winner #1** | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/
Southold |
| Regional Winner #2** | 3171 | HURRICANES | Westhampton Beach High School/Westhampton Beach |
| Regional Winner #3** | 2872 | CyberCats | The Wheatley School/
Old Westbury |
| Regional Engineering Inspiration Award** | 6024 | R Factor | Neighborhood Group/Mumbai, India |
| Regional Chairman’s Award* ** |
2638 | Rebel Robotics | Great Neck South High School/
Great Neck |
The Full List of Winners of the 2022 SBPLI Long Island Regional #2 Awards Include:
| AWARD | TEAM # | TEAM NAME | SCHOOL/TOWN |
| Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen |
5298 | E-TECH CHARGERS | Energy Tech High School/
Astoria |
| Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award | 694 | StuyPulse | Stuyvesant High School/
New York |
| Rockwell Automation Creativity Award | 564 | Longwood Robotics | Longwood High School/
Middle Island |
| Delphi Excellence in Engineering Award | 810 | The Mechanical Bulls | Smithtown High School-East & Smithtown High School-West/
Smithtown |
| Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award | 2601 | Steel Hawks | Townsend Harris High School/
Flushing |
| General Motors Industrial Design Award | 287 | Floyd Robotics | William Floyd High School/
Mastic Beach |
| Ford Autonomous Award | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/
Southold |
| Motorola Solutions Foundation Quality Award | 2791 | Shaker Robotics | Shaker High School/Latham, NY |
| Johnson & Johnson Gracious Professionalism | 1554 | Oceanside Robotics | School 7 Oceanside High School/Oceanside |
| FCA Foundation Team Spirit Award |
7717 | Steam Punks | St. Michael’s School/Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
| Judges’ Award | 6806 | Mineola Wild Reds | Mineola High School/Mineola |
| Regional Finalist #1 | 1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/Hicksville |
| Regional Finalist #2 | 1796 | RoboTigers | Queens Technical High School/
Queens |
| Regional Finalist #3 | 271 | Mechanical Marauders | Bay Shore High School/
Bay Shore |
| Regional Winner #1** | 694 | StuyPulse | Stuyvesant High School/ New York |
| Regional Winner #2** | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/
Southold |
| Regional Winner #3** | 2869 | Regal Eagles | Bethpage High School/Bethpage |
| Regional Engineering Inspiration Award** | 2869 | Regal Eagles | Bethpage High School/Bethpage |
| Regional Chairman’s Award* ** |
1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/Hicksville |
| Wildcard ** | 8739 | Redhawk Robotics | High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park |
| Highest Rookie Seed | 8739 | Redhawk Robotics | High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park |
| Rookie All Star Award | 8739 | Redhawk Robotics | High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture/Ozone Park |
* 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 20-23.
*** Denotes a rookie team.