Students from 17 participating high schools took part in the Sixth Annual Deer Park Invitational, a postseason robotics competition sponsored by the School Business Partnerships of Long Island, Inc. (SBPLI), FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the Deer Park School District. The daylong competition challenged students’ engineering skills as they worked together to solve intricate problems and engaged in friendly competition.

At the event, students programmed their robots to compete on a 27-by-54-foot playing field setup in the high school’s gymnasium and attempted to earn points by collecting soccer balls in goals. Additional bonus points were earned for each robot suspended in air and not touching the field at the end of the match. The Deer Park High School Robotics Team designed, built and controlled Robot 270 for the Deer Park Invitational.