FIRST Long Island Announces Award Winners from the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition Long Island Regional #1

Team #28 “Pierson Whalers” from Pierson High School in Sag Harbor was the recipient of the FIRST®  (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Impact Award at the FIRST Robotics Competition Long Island Regional #1, which took place at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead on March 21-22. 

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island presented its 2023 Long Island Regional #1 on March 21-22 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex in Hempstead. Forty-five teams from Long Island, upstate New York, Brazil and India took part in the three-day FIRST® Robotics Competition. 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.

 

Ellen Kressner, Team Mentor, Team #2638 “Rebel Robotics” from Great Neck South High School, was named a Finalist 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 and Abigail Brennan of Team #810 “The Mechanical Bulls” of Smithtown High School.

 

“This was one of the best Long Island Regionals we’ve experienced,” says Bertram Dittmar, Executive Director, FIRST Long Island. “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 UPSM 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 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.

 

Please Note: Photos of all Award Winners and Advancing Teams are available upon request.