The Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy Robotics team, POBOTS, recently competed in the F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration and Recognition of Technology) National Robotics Competition.

POBOTS is a group of interested students, teachers, and members of the Plainview-Old Bethpage community that participates in the prestigious technology-based competition. F.I.R.S.T. is a nationally, and now internationally recognized competition with many major corporate sponsors including Microsoft, Staples, Autodesk Software, Festo Corporation, and NASA. The Long Island Regional portion of the competition took place March 18th, 19th and 20th at Suffolk Community College.

At Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School, the science stars, not just sports stars, get special attention. POBOTS recently held their fourth annual Robot Rally at Sterling Glen of Plainview, formerly Chestnut Grove, to demonstrate their robot, show video presentations, and enjoy refreshments, and raffle sales. The Long Island community and POBJFK students and staff came to support the team. in honor of their recent competition.

Each year, the competition requires the teams to design and build a robot from scratch. This year, the competition required the robot to be able to play a game created by the teams. The robot was required to play some or all of the aspects of the game. The competition always provides a kit of assorted parts which are used, along with additional materials supplied by the teams, to construct the robots. The School Board and the administration have been very supportive of the team and financed POBJFK's entrance into the competition.

The goals of the competition include introducing students to the field of computer programming, engineering design and manufacture. While the students work very hard, almost all teams have the benefit of design or mechanical engineers, or engineering students, who have volunteered their time to work with specific teams. Students also gain skills in working with tools and problem solving. As usual, the POBJFK POBOTS built a top robot for this year's competition, representing the Plainview-Old Bethpage District quite well.