FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2023 Long Island Regionals on March 21-22 and March 24-25 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Ninety-two teams from Long Island, New York City, upstate New York, Chinese Taipei, the Dominican Republic, India, Turkey and the United Kingdom took part in two two-day FIRST® Robotics Competitions. This event 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 2023 Long Island Regional #1 was the three-team alliance made up of “Ranger Robotics” (Team #3015) from Spencerport (NY) High School, “Hicksville J-Birds” (Team #1468) from Hicksville High School and “CyberHawks” (Team #2875) from Cold Spring Harbor High School. “Pierson Whalers” (Team #28) from Pierson Middle/High School in Sag Harbor took home the coveted FIRST Impact 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. “Rebel Robotics” (Team #2638) from Great Neck South High School won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. These teams are now eligible to compete at the 2023 FIRST Championship presented by BAE Systems at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from April 19-22.
Team Mentors Ellen Kressner from Team #2638 “Rebel Robotics” from Great Neck South High School and Tia Singh of Team #1796 “RoboTigers” from Queens Technical High School were named Finalists for the Woodie Flowers Award. Winners of the Dean’s List Finalist Award were Shaan Merchant of Team #2638 “Rebel Robotics” from Great Neck South High School, Abigail Brennan of Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” of Smithtown High School, Kali Nilsen of Team #533 “The PSIcotics” from Lindenhurst High School and Laura Lerebours of Team #3624 “Thundercolts” of Half Hollow Hills High School West & Half Hollow Hills High School East in Dix Hills.
“This was one of the best Long Island Regionals we’ve experienced,” said FIRST Long Island 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 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 CHARGED UP(SM) Presented by Haas, in which two alliances are invited to process game pieces to bring energy to their community. The alliances do this by retrieving their game pieces from substations and placing them into the grid. Human players provide the game pieces to the robots from the substations. In the last moments of each match, alliance robots race to dock or engage with their charge station.
The Full List of Winners of the 2023 SBPLI Long Island Regional #1 Awards Include:
| AWARD | TEAM # | TEAM NAME | SCHOOL/TOWN |
| Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen | 5659 | Team Supreme | Bridgehampton School/ Bridgehampton |
| Innovation in Control Award | 329 | Mohawks | Patchogue Medford Sr. High School/Medford |
| Creativity Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation | 5736 | Kingsmen Robotics | Kings Park High School/ Kings Park |
| Excellence in Engineering Award | 3015 | Ranger Robotics | Spencerport High School/ Spencerport, NY |
| Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford | 7539 | Elev8 | Dhirubhai Ambani International School/Mumbai, India |
| Quality Award | 2872 | CyberCats | Wheatley School/Old Westbury |
| Gracious Professionalism Award | 2869 | Regal Eagles | Bethpage High School/ Bethpage |
| Team Spirit Award | 2265 | Fe Maidens | Bronx High School of Science/Bronx |
| Team Sustainability Award | 4122 | Ossining O-Bots | Ossining High School/Ossining, NY |
| Rookie All Star Award *** | 9016 | Syosset Braves Robotics | Syosset High School/Syosset |
| Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors | 7636 | Robomania | National Experimental High School at Central Taiwan Science Park/Taichung City, Taiwan |
| Wildcard | 9016 | Syosset Braves Robotics *** | Syosset High School/ Syosset |
| Judges’ Award | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/Southold |
| Regional Finalist #1 | 2872 | CyberCats | Wheatley School/Old Westbury |
| Regional Finalist #2 | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/Southold |
| Regional Finalist #3 | 334 | TechKnights | Brooklyn Technical High School/Brooklyn |
| Regional Winner #1** | 3015 | Ranger Robotics | Spencerport High School/Spencerport, NY |
| Regional Winner #2** | 1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/ Hicksville |
| Regional Winner #3** | 2875 | CyberHawks | Cold Spring Harbor Jr. Sr. HS/Cold Spring Harbor |
| Regional Engineering Inspiration Award** | 2638 | Rebel Robotics | Great Neck South High School/Great Neck |
| Regional FIRST Impact
Award* ** |
28 | Pierson Whalers | Pierson Middle High School/Sag Harbor |
The Full List of Winners of the 2023 FIRST Long Island Regional #2 Awards Include:
| AWARD | TEAM # | TEAM NAME | SCHOOL/TOWN |
| Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen | 3624 | ThunderColts | Half Hollow Hills High Schools West & East/Dix Hills |
| Innovation in Control Award | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold Jr. Sr. High School/ Southold |
| Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford | 594 | StuyPulse | Stuyvesant High School/New York, NY |
| Quality Award | 871 | Robotechs | West Islip High School/West Islip |
| Gracious Professionalism Award | 263 | Aftershock | Sachem High Schools North and East/Ronkonkoma |
| Team Spirit Award | 564 | Longwood Robotics | Longwood High School/ Middle Island |
| Team Sustainability Award | 353 | POBots | Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School/Plainview |
| Highest Rookie Seed *** | 9016 | Syosset Braves Robotics | Syosset High School/Syosset |
| Rookie Inspiration Award *** | 9016 | Syosset Braves Robotics | Syosset High School/Syosset |
| Rookie All Star Award *** | 9184 | Zeta | Sevenoaks School/ Sevenoaks, UK |
| Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors | 1468 | Hicksville J-Birds | Hicksville High School/ Hicksville |
| Judges’ Award | 1880 | Warriors of East Harlem | East Harlem Tutorial Program/New York, NY |
| Regional Finalist #1 | 329 | Mohawks | Patchogue-Medford High School/Medford |
| Regional Finalist #2 | 5736 | Kingsmen Robotics | Kings Park High School/ Kings Park |
| Regional Finalist #3 | 5099 | Northport Robotics | Northport High School/ Northport |
| Regional Winner #1** | 694 | StuyPulse | Stuyvesant High School/New York, NY |
| Regional Winner #2** | 870 | TEAM R.I.C.E. | Southold High School/ Southold |
| Regional Winner #3** | 533 | The PSIcotics | Lindenhurst High School/ Lindenhurst |
| Regional Engineering Inspiration Award** | 2869 | Regal Eagles | Bethpage High School/ Bethpage |
| Regional FIRST Impact
Award* ** |
1796 | RoboTigers | Queens Technical High School/Queens, NY |
* The FIRST Impact 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 2023 FIRST® Championship presented by BAE Systems at either the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas on April 19-22.
*** Denotes a rookie team.