The William Floyd High School “Team 287 Floyd Robotics,” led by advisors Joseph Carpinone, Joseph Brand and Roxanna Casey, along with volunteers Chris Ryon and Jack Fried from Brookhaven National Laboratory, recently competed at the Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition at Hofstra University. They excelled in this competition – finishing second overall, serving as alliance captains, ranking No. 3 out of 48 teams across Long Island, New York City and Chinese Taipei, garnering Regional Finalist honors and winning the Industrial Design Award! Additionally, the team earned more than enough regional points to qualify for a bid in the FIRST Championship world competition from April 29 – May 2 In Houston, TX!

The Industrial Design Award, the third in program history, is sponsored by General Motors, and is presented to the team that best demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function and aesthetics, showcasing the team’s talent, teamwork and dedication to excellence.

This year’s robot, nicknamed “Lebot James” after the world-famous NBA player Lebron James, competed in alliance-style tournament rounds under this year’s challenge, “REBUILT,” presented by Haas. In this year’s game, teams used their engineering skills to “re-imagine the past.”

As alliance captains, Floyd Robotics worked with “Formosan Sika Team 7673” from Chinese Taipei, and “Riptide Robotics Team 8267” from Long Beach, with the “Robocats Team 2161” from Walt Whitman serving as backup.

The event was sponsored by Haas, FIRST Long Island, Zebra Technologies and Optimum.

The team is gearing up Lebot James next for the New York Tech Valley Regional in Albany from April 15-18. Then about two weeks after that, they are headed to the championships in Texas!

Team members include: Aydan Alqadri, Husam Alzindani, Elijah Baez, Michael Baez, Temarr Burwell, Hamza Cheema, Matthew Davies, Alpha Diallo, Angelo Di Chiara, Berline Francois, Gerard Gawlowski, Gabriel Philip Guillen, Maria Guzman, Bee Indursky, Dylan Jaime, Elizabeth Jenkins, Anna Jenkins, Sarah Mehtab, Jacob Montenegro, Kevin Muy, Carmine Nacchio, Walter Noriega, Carlos Paz, Eric Peralta, William Polovchena, Douglas Smith, Evan Solis, Muhammad Umair, Anthony Umana-Ayala, Bryan Valdez, Ryan Vasquez, Cristobal Velasquez, Melanie Villacis-Lugo, Josh Wildgoose, and Samantha Wood.

About William Floyd Robotics
William Floyd Robotics first started competing in 1999 and has won a host of awards including the Xerox Creativity Award (2001); the Daimler Chrysler Team Spirt Award (2001); Regional Finalists (2001); Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award (2002, 2004); Chrysler Team Spirit Award (2006, 2007 and 2008); Judges’ Award (2009); Regional Winner (2009); Regional Finalist (2011); Judges’ Award (2015); Regional Winners (2016); Innovation in Control Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation (2016); Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation (2017); Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors (2018); Judges’ Award (2019); Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Delphi (2019); the Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors (2022); Hudson Valley Regional Finalists (2024); the Quality Award (2025) for machine robustness in concept and fabrication; and the Industrial Design Award sponsored by General Motors (2026).