Long Island students got to show off their robots at Hofstra University Tuesday for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Participants in the Robotics Competition got 10 weeks to build their robots and were in control of the process the whole time.

Optimum, part of News 12's parent company Altice USA, was a primary sponsor of the event, as well as a sponsor of nine of the competing teams.

Altice chairman and founder Patrick Drahi was at the first day one of the competition. He says it's important for the company to support these kinds of programs and to get students excited about STEM.

"As we want to be here for centuries, we need to prepare for the future," Drahi says. "We need to prepare for the future and the young population and the formation of the young population."