Robots and Students Strut Their Stuff

Students representing 25 high schools around Long Island and Queens brought their creations and their skills to Half Hollow Hills West Saturday for the second annual robotics invitational.

Winning teams came from Patchogue-Medford, West Islip and Connequot.

The gym was a whirlwind of activity as teams lined up to push, pull or lift their robots into position to compete on the 27-by-54-foot field. Inside the netted-off area, robots built by the students fired Frisbee-sized plastic discs into wall slots and zoomed around the field in a two-minute, 15-second competition. Enthusiastic students, parents and teachers packed the gym and cords, cables, discs and robots were everywhere. Part of the competition included robots attempting to climb pyramids in the center of the field.

Half Hollow Hills West physics teacher Julian Aptowitz estimated that nearly 1,000 showed up, with teams made up of 10 to 20 students each. 

"It's an amazing day," he said. "It's a terrific display of engineering and learning, everything that's right about education today."

Teams used the robots they built for the 2013 Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, held at Hofstra University in April.

Competing were teams from:
Baldwin, Bay Shore, Brentwood, Center Moriches, Central Islip, Cold Spring Harbor, Comsewogue, Connetquot, Great Neck South, Half Hollow Hills, Hauppauge, Hicksville, Island Trees, Lindenhurst, Malverne, Miller Place, North Shore, the New York City Board of Education, Patchogue-Medford, Plainview-Old Bethpage, Port Washington, Sachem Central, Sage Harbor, Seaford and West Islip.

Two other teams had "pre-rookie" status, the Huntington Devildroids and Northport Tigers, meaning they borrowed robots from other teams, the SBPLI said.

The invitational was a fundraiser for the Half Hollow Hills program, and was sponsored by the HHH team, School-Business Partnerships of Long Island and the Science Academy at Park Shore Country Day Camp and School.