A LigerBots student member sang the national anthem before the FIRST District Qualifying Event at Bryant University in Rhode Island last weekend, the team won the Entrepreneurship Award, and one of our coaches was selected as a candidate for the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.

The LigerBots after the competition

The entrepreneurship award recognizes a team’s “comprehensive business plan … to define, manage and achieve the team’s objectives” and “entrepreneurial enthusiasm and the vital business skills to ensure a self-sustaining program.” Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers sponsors this award at each FIRST Robotics event.

Co-founding LigerBots coach John Fitzpatrick was selected as a candidate for the prestigious Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, which will be given at the New England Championship on Saturday, April 8. The Woodie Flowers Award “celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design.” The Woodie Flowers Award will be bestowed on one mentor at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis on Saturday, April 29, from among the finalist award recipients from each regional and district championship.

This was the second of two district qualifying events the LigerBots participated in this year. Because we had two weeks to prepare after our first event at WPI, we were able to refine our strategy and make adjustments to our robot so that we could perform even better the second time around. We were selected to join an alliance in the quarterfinals, but did not advance to the semifinals.

Our robot climbing up the Velcro rope in the SteamWorks game

The LigerBots drive team heads for the competition field

Although the competition season is over, the team is not slowing down! We are participating in a number of outreach events planned for the next month, including Robo Madness, Bowen Elementary Science Day, and the Science Carnival & Robot Zoo at the Cambridge Science Festival.