On Saturday, November 22, 2025, the LigerBots hosted their annual FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Qualifier at Newton North High School. FLL is a competition where students in grades 4–8 design and build LEGO® robots to complete themed challenges.

Two teams compete in a “coopertition” (cooperation and competition mashed up)

25 teams competed in this year’s game, titled UNEARTHED, challenging teams to complete a variety of archaeology-related missions. For example, one was called Surface Brush, where teams had to swing away dirt and remove a shovel with their robot.

The “Goofy Gyros” deep in the action of a match

75 LigerBots members plus volunteers from the community worked tirelessly setting up the event the night before and running it throughout the day — from managing matches to cleaning up afterward. Members did jobs such as MC, DJ, concessions, door greeter, referee, judge, and even more. 

An MC remarked, “Wow, I had so much fun helping everyone at the event have so much fun!”.

Shot of a team competing in UNEARTHED, while spectators watch

In the cafeteria, teams set up “the pits,” where they displayed informational posters about their work and made adjustments to their robots between matches. A practice area was also available for teams to test their robots before competing.

Example of a “pit”

Between matches, participants could stop by the LigerBooth outside the pits, featuring different kinds of Origami arts. Attendees could create complex paper airplanes, stars, and even triangles!

After the matches concluded, teams celebrated at an afterparty while judges finalized results for robot design, innovation projects, and overall team dynamics. Teams were rewarded for their score in their matches, but also their sportsmanship, known as their gracious professionalism.

Shot of afterparty in the cafeteria

Finally, the award ceremony recognized teams for their skill, creativity, courage, and kindness. In the end, only 8 teams advanced to the next round, but everyone had a lot of fun and developed their STEAM skills.

Birds-eye photo of the whole team

We thank everyone who came out to the event – parents, siblings, competitors, Ligerbots members, and everyone else!

But wait — there’s much, much more! Stay tuned for the Cub Scouts visit, the FLL Championship, and Kickoff!

On November 10, the LigerBots hosted their third FIRST LEGO League (FLL) scrimmage at North in preparation for their upcoming competition season and the November 22nd FLL Qualifier at Newton North. The event was a great success for both the LigerBots and the attending FLL teams.

FLL is a program where teams work together to research a real-world problem, develop an innovative solution, and design, build, and program an autonomous LEGO robot to complete missions.

Each team has their choice for their robot to complete 15 specially built tasks also out of legos, as the more tasks done, the more points.The scrimmage offered valuable practice for both the FLL participants and LigerBots members. Many team members were impressed by the creativity and quality of the FLL robots and the kids were happy with the participating LigerBots members.

5 FLL teams attended, all showing great enthusiasm throughout the event. As the scrimmage went on, participants showed noticeable improvement and began developing stronger strategies and teamwork. By the end, teams were racking up more points, and with each round, having more fun.

“I’m so happy kids got to prepare for a real FLL event” member Kaylee D. said.

One competing student from the Lego Rockstars said, “the event was really fun”.

Their team’s coach remarked, “[It was] a great way to teach kids math and science, [and] it’s really fun too.”

Check back soon for our blogs on the FLL qualifier, which is happening on November 22nd at Newton North and the Cub Scout visit. We can’t wait for you to read our work!

On November 1st, 2025, we participated in Pumpkin Smash, a Newton Tradition, at Newton City Hall.The first Saturday after every Halloween, residents donate their pumpkins to be brutally smashed by the LigerBots! After, the pumpkins are composted and recycled. 

Pumpkin smash machine

The pumpkin smash design, modeled around a battering ram, uses a huge log to do the smashing action. Hundreds of community members showed up and donated their pumpkins over the weekend, and watched them satisfyingly get smashed. Afterwards the smashed pumpkins are  put in compost piles. A LigerBots member said, “It was the coolest thing since sliced bread!”

Kids interact with Binary Beads activity

We also hosted our well-known outreach activities for kids, Skeleton Hands and Binary Bracelets. Along with seeing their pumpkins get obliterated, they also learned STEAM concepts, leaving them well-informed when they left.

In addition, the LigerBots connected with parents and students, sharing information about our team and introducing FLL (First Lego League)—a youth robotics program that’s a perfect entry point for younger kids interested in STEM and robotics. Parents were enthusiastic to hear about our upcoming FLL Qualifiers and Championships, where the FLL Championship will include a STEAM Expo filled with dozens of exciting activities!

Wide shot of the event’s activity

Overall, Team members had a lot of fun, and thought that Pumpkin Smash was a big success. Member Will S said, “The event was spectacular, we crushed a lot of pumpkins! Member Jacob B followed up with, “Pumpkin smash was really fun, I made a lot of friends”

 Event sign-up booth

The event was a huge success – Over 25 team members made the event and made it special for all of our fans. Stay tuned for our upcoming FLL events; the FLL Scrimmage and Qualifier, on November 10th and November 22nd, respectively.

On October 25, 2025, the LigerBots attended River Rage at Manchester Memorial High School to compete in Reefscape one more time. 

Drive team and our robot, Hydra, before a match

 River Rage, in its 28th season, is the longest lasting off-season FIRST Robotics Competition event.

Drive team about to carry the robot on field.

During the qualifying rounds, we won three out of five matches. During the playoff matches we lost our first match but had one more try at redemption. We won our next two matches, but ultimately lost the fourth match but only by ten points! 

Our robot in a match during auto carrying an algae.

Because this is an off season event, the stakes are lower than during competition season. It’s a great opportunity for students who haven’t had the chance to be on the drive team, to gain crucial experience learning how to drive our robot.

Hydra, in the pit for some last second repairs before our next match.

This event is a great time for new members to experience working on the robot in the pits, where we get the added challenge of having limited materials and space. We had a great time at River Rage and hope to attend next year!

We’re excited about our upcoming events including the FLL Scrimmage on November 10th and the FLL Qualifier on November 22nd.  Both events are being held at Newton North High School.  Can’t wait to see you there!

The GreenExpo came to Newton’s Harvest Fair on October 19th. It was a glorious, sunny Sunday afternoon with more than 1,000 people in attendance. For 10 years, the Harvest Fair has continued the tradition in celebrating and encouraging fun, interactive, and enriching activities.  

A ball gets launched to a girl and her father

 

According to one of our attending teammates, “more than 40 children participated in the Binary Beads activity,” where they dived into the world of binary code by creating bracelets that would spell out anything of their choice in binary. In addition, our Outreach Robot, a Newton favorite, took a spin around Newton Centre. Families enjoyed watching the robot in action, launching a huge, red tennis ball into the air. 

A funny pumpkin was decorated at the Harvest Fair!

Overall, the GreenEXPO was successful in enriching the young minds of Newton, through the engaging and thought-provoking activities, like Binary Beads and our robot. As another teammate said, “a lot of people were interested in the [Outreach] robot,” clearly showing the impact it had on the hearts and minds of our community.

Stay posted for the FLL scrimmage and FLL qualifier on November 10th and November 22nd respectively!