Aviation High School in Long Island City attended this year’s kickoff for the 2013 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, sponsored by School-Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI) and Stony Brook University. They gathered with more than 40 participating high schools on Saturday, January 5 at Stony Brook University’s Jacob Javits Center for a presentation and simulcast broadcast from New Hampshire. After the presentation, each team received a kit of parts to help them build a 120-pound robot. The teams will have six weeks to construct the robot and prepare for the upcoming competition to be held on April 4-6 at Hofstra University.

Members of the Aviation robotics team are pictured displaying the contents of the kit of parts.

For more information about SBPLI and the annual FIRST Robotics Competition, visithttp://www.sbpli.org.