Welcome back! While we’re excited to leap into the new school year, let’s look back on what has been an incredible summer, packed with team-building activities, outreach events, and summer projects.

Even outside of build season, our students have stayed connected. On August 14, LigerBots went to Nahanton Park to go kayaking along the Charles River. LigerBots have also met up to have picnics, play cards, go trampolining, and even quiz each other on FRC fun facts! 

Besides having fun together, the LigerBots have also continued our efforts in community outreach. On May 29, we marched in Newton’s Memorial Day Parade to honor our veterans, while showing off our robot to excited onlookers. 

The Ligerbots ran a booth during Newton Highlands Village Day on June 12, where we showed off our robot and offered hands-on STEAM activities to passing families.

And, on August 21, the LigerBots participated in Boston’s annual GreenFest, a large, three-day festival at the Rose Kennedy Greenway promoting sustainability and environmental equality. There, we displayed our robot and offered kids fun STEAM activities. Our binary beads bracelet-making activity, which teaches the binary alphabet and Morse code, was quite popular, as usual!

More outreach is planned for the fall, including a booth at Newtonville Village Day on September 18, at Newton Upper Falls Village Day on October 2, and at the Newton Harvest Fair on October 16. So, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and FaceBook for more information.

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This summer has been an exciting time for many off-season technical initiatives. We created a new swerve drive, an extremely mobile (and complex) drivetrain in which the drive wheels can be independently steered in any direction. 

In addition, a group of LigerBots has been developing an FTC “demobot,” a scaled-down version of the Mars Curiosity rover robot, using parts from the First Tech Challenge. Students are in the process of building the “rocker-bogie” suspension system—a design that allows traversal over obstacles while maintaining all wheels on the ground. 

LigerBots have also been updating our 2022 robot, Prometheus, for use at outreach events. We have designed a new shooter that launches balls at adjustable angles to allow for effortless use in future events. 

A group of eager students, led by former CTO Jake, have been creating a prototype of an autonomous clean-up robot that we hope will one day enter the commercial market. This robot is intended to compact and dispose of litter while traversing complex terrain. Students are currently working through dozens of design iterations while experimenting with new materials and manufacturing techniques—all while closely documenting the process. We can’t wait to see how it will turn out! 

Finally, the graphics group has been continuing the redesign, navigation overhaul, and general usability improvement of our website. Graphics students have wrapped up the new, modernized design and are ready to kickstart the coding of the website theme. We can’t wait to show you once we’re ready! If you are an adult who specializes in website development, the LigerBots is currently looking for a mentor to aid us during this process. Please contact graphics mentor Diane Levy at [email protected] if you are interested. 

Given all that we’ve done this summer, we’re amped to go into the new school year strong! Our first meeting for returning team members is Thursday, September 8, 6:30 p.m., at Newton South High School. For prospective members from South, be sure to catch us at the South club fair on September 13. The North club fair will take place in the week of September 12 (exact date to be determined.) Our team open house for new members is September 29 at Newton South. More information about the club fair and open house will be coming soon, so be on the lookout.

Finally, we’d like to acknowledge our sponsors for making possible what we’ve accomplished this year. Thank you to our newest sponsor, Rockwell Automation, and to our current sponsors: Newton Schools Foundation, Newton Public Schools, Eastern Bank, MathWorks, Paytronix, Raytheon Missiles & Defense, Teradyne, Village Bank, Honda Village, Rotary Club of Newton, IvyMath, the Willins, and the Schwartzes. Your support is invaluable!