Ninety-Three Teams from Long Island, the U.S. and the World to Compete at Hofstra University for CHARGED UPSM Presented by Haas

Area students are charged up for the 24th annual FIRST Long Island Regional FIRST® Robotics Competition, which will be held in a double-header style, with tournaments March 21 to 22 and March 24 to 25 at Hofstra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Presented by FIRST Long Island, these back-to-back regionals feature 93 teams from across Long Island, New York State, the United States and around the world. These students, aged 14 to 18, utilize 120-pound robots to compete in alliance-style tournament rounds under this year’s challenge, dubbed CHARGED UPSM Presented by Haas. Long Island residents are encouraged to attend to support these local high school students.

The FIRST Long Island Regionals feature teams of high school-aged students 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.

In CHARGED UPSM Presented by Haas, 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.

Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, during which time alliance robots operate only on pre-programmed instructions to score points by leaving their communities, retrieving and scoring game pieces onto the grid and docking on or engaging with their charge stations. In the final two minutes and 15 seconds of the match, drivers take control of the robots and score points by continuing to retrieve and score their game pieces onto the grid and docking on or engaging with their charge stations. The alliance with the highest score at the end of the match wins.

This year marks the 24th season of the FIRST Robotics Competition on Long Island by FIRST Long Island’s late Founder Fred Breithut, using his vision for the students of Long Island and the innovative program developed through FIRST. Mr. Breithut, a former educator, founded FIRST Long Island in 1984 to address the gap between the skills needed by Long Island’s business community and the relevant preparation provided by local school districts. In the first 15 years of its operation, FIRST Long Island formed over 100 successful partnerships between high schools and local businesses.

In 2000, the inaugural FIRST Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition was held under a tent at Suffolk Community College’s Ammerman Campus in Selden, with 23 teams participating; it was the first-ever Regional FIRST Robotics Competition held in New York State. Since then, FIRST Robotics Competition on Long Island has grown tremendously. In 2018, FIRST Long Island hosted 78 teams, requiring two, rather than one, Regional events. In 2019, the Long Island Regional hosted 85 teams, with 17 competing from foreign countries—the most in the Regional’s history at that time.

The presenting co-sponsor of this year’s competition is Zebra Technologies, a technology development company that provides industry-tailored, end-to-end technological solutions for retail/ecommerce, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare and other industries. FESTO Corporation has also announced that, once again, it is sponsoring the competition, as the company has done since the initial FIRST Robotics Competition Long Island Regional took place two decades ago.

The event is free to the public. Those in attendance are encouraged to cheer on their home teams, visit the teams’ pit areas to see firsthand how these students are able to program, repair and operate their robots. Visitors can also meet with FIRST Long Island representatives, who can explain to them the different tournaments the organization presents and how one can form a team.

“The FIRST Long Island Regional is an amazing way for students to showcase their talents in the STEM fields,” says Larry Toonkel, Co-Director, FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Long Island. “We are very excited to see what all our Long Island teams bring to the table, and to host teams from across the state, the country and even the world at our tournaments.”

“We are certain that these dual events will provide an even greater level of exhilaration for participating teams and give our local teams an added opportunity to advance to the Championships,” adds Bertram Dittmar, Executive Director, FIRST Long Island. “With an increasing number of Long Island FIRST Robotics Competition teams joining each year, we plan to continue to double the events in our region. But, in order to accomplish this goal, we’ll need the continued support of our valued schools, families, volunteers and donors.”

FIRST Long Island is the title sponsor of the FIRST Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

Captain of Innovation-level sponsors include Zebra Technologies, Optimum, Farmingdale State College School of Engineering Technology, FESTO Corporation, PMMI, PSEG, Hofstra University, Long Island University (LIU Post), Northrop Grumman, Canon USA, Investors Bank, School Construction Consultants, Schenck USA, SCOPE Education Services, STERI Technologies, Stony Brook University, Telephonics Corporation.

Friends of the Future-level sponsors include accessLinx, Inc.; Brookhaven Science Associates; Cradle of Aviation; The Dittmar Family; Engineers Joint Committee of Long Island (EJCLI); IEEE-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Stern Family.

For more information on FIRST Long Island or the FIRST Robotics Competition, please visit www.firstlongisland.org.


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About FIRST®
Accomplished inventor Dean Kamen founded FIRST® (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 $30 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; FIRST® LEGO® League for Grades 4-8; and FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. for Grades K-4. 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.firstinspires.org.


About FIRST® Long Island
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Long Island is a fully volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the goal to enable students to find their passion, while preparing them for the challenges facing the 21st-century workforce.
FIRST Long Island evolved from School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI). In 1984, Frederick Breithut had the vision and foresight to recognize the need to develop partnerships between local high schools and businesses. His goal was to provide students with practical experience and curriculum development, while helping the business community develop its future workforce, which resulted in the formation of over 100 partnerships. To further this mission, in 1999, SBPLI partnered with FIRST to administer and bring FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) to Long Island. The Long Island robotics program featured just eight FRC high school teams culminating in the inaugural FRC Regional event. Since then, the FRC Long Island Regional has grown to two events with over 80 teams consisting of over 2,000 students competing each year. FIRST Long Island also hosts the FIRST LEGO League programs, in which over 2,000 elementary and middle school students from Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part each year. In 2016, the FIRST Tech Challenge was added to its roster of programs, roughly impacting another 500 students on Long Island.
Now doing business as FIRST Long Island, the organization seeks to expand its impact by strengthening relationships with students, volunteers, and sponsors while helping to connect students and alumni to internship and job opportunities. FIRST Long Island continues to use robots as the vehicle to “build students“ and prepare them for the future.

For more information about the programs, find out about volunteering, or to learn how to become a sponsor, visit www.firstlongisland.org.