On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the LigerBots hosted the annual FLL (FIRST® LEGO® League) Qualifier at Newton North High School. FLL is a competition where kids in grades 4-8 build robots out of legos to use in our competition.

In this year’s game, called SUBMERGED, teams had to complete various tasks related to underwater exploration, such as raising a ship’s mast and feeding krill to a whale.

Our members were at work setting up the previous night and all day during the event running the competition and cleaning up after.

After the matches were done, we had an afterparty with the teams while the judges were finalizing the results of their judging of the teams’ robot design, their innovation project and their overall team dynamic, or as it is called in FIRST, Gracious Professionalism®.

In the cafeteria, we had “the pits” where teams set up informational posters about their team and worked on their robot between matches. We also set up a practice area for teams to test their robots.

While the teams were between matches, they could visit our LigerBooth outside the pit where we featured several STEAM activities and our 2022 robot. 

Finally, the award ceremony took place where teams were awarded for skill, courage and kindness. 

But wait! There’s more! Stay tuned for the Massachusetts-East FLL Championship on December 14th, which will feature a STEAM expo with over 30 activities!