Students from 19 participating high schools — including two pre-rookie teams — took part in the Eighth Annual Deer Park Invitational, a postseason robotics competition that was held at Deer Park High School on November 5. The event was sponsored by the School Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI), FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the Deer Park Union Free School District. The daylong competition fostered goodwill amongst the students, working together as they solved intricate problems and engaged in friendly competition.

Parents and school administrators were on hand to cheer on the competitors. Winners of the invitational were the three-team alliance of Team 329 from Patchogue-Medford,Team 884 from Malverne and Team 1751 from Comsewogue. Finalists were Team 271from Bay Shore, Team 358 from Hauppauge and Team 1468 from Hicksville.

At the event, students programmed their robots, some weighing as much as 135 pounds, to compete on a 27-by-54-foot playing field with poles, attempting to earn points by hanging as many triangle, circle and square FIRST logo pieces as possible. Bonus points were earned for each robot that could hang and assemble logo pieces to form the FIRST logo. Robots also deployed Mini-Bots to climb vertical poles for a chance to earn additional points.