Coming soon!

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! 

On Thursday, November 14, from 6-8pm, the LigerBots ran the Angier Science Fair, bringing with us a wide variety of STEAM activities including tangrams, paper airplanes, slime, skeleton handprints and more!

The event was attended by many students from Angier’s after school program, their families, and their friends.  Our STEAM activities teach topics related to science including air drag, friction, reflectivity, and counting in binary.  All the kids were really engaged!

Our team worked with parent volunteers to bring STEAM activities to over 70 kids! This was a collaboration between the Angier elementary school science fair and the LigerBots.

Our student operated robot shot large tennis balls for the kids to catch and they engaged in feeding the ball back into the robot, via the intake. The students got an opportunity to ask questions and be curious about robots and STEAM as a whole.

Stay tuned for our exciting upcoming events, including our inaugural Boys and Girls club workshop and the FLL Championship STEAM Expo coming in December! 

On Saturday, November 2, the LigerBots brought a Pumpkin Smasher for a fun event at City Hall.
A community tradition is held on the first Saturday after Halloween each year, where community members are invited to donate leftover Halloween items and smash leftover pumpkins. The pumpkins are then composted and recycled after the event has ended.

The pumpkin-smashing mechanism, designed and engineered exclusively by the LigerBots, features a wooden guillotine-like structure that adds a thrilling twist to the event.
Hundreds of community members showed up to donate their leftover pumpkins, and enjoyed the excitement of watching them get smashed! After each smash, the pumpkin remains are collected into a large compost pile, creating a uniquely satisfying sight for all spectators.
Alongside the pumpkin smashing, the LigerBots hosted three interactive STEAM activities: Skeleton Handprint, Binary Beads, and Slime. At these stations, students create binary bracelets, make slime, and design a creative X-ray handprint, while discovering the unique STEAM concepts behind each activity!

During the event, the LigerBots engaged with parents and students, sharing insights about our team and introducing FLL (First Lego League), a youth robotics league that offers a great starting point for younger kids interested in robotics.
Parents were also excited to learn about our upcoming FLL Qualifiers and Championships in the coming weeks, with the FLL Championship featuring a STEAM Expo packed with dozens of activities beyond those presented here!

When asked, the event managers reported that the event was an overwhelming success!
“The event was well staffed, and everybody got an opportunity to do what they wanted.” – Student Organizer, Abby Z.
“It was a really cool project, and I think the kids were really entertained by it” – Student Organizer, Sarah H.

On October 26th, the LigerBots competed in RiverRage, a pre-season competition. We were glad to be the first pick for the second alliance with our 2024 robot!

During Riverrage we overcame many challenges as a team. We also worked together to fix the robot and successfully manage the problems.

Overall our team members were satisfied with the last performance of our 2024 robot before we disassembled parts for our fall training.
“We did pretty well”, said Wes H, Co-CTO of LigerBots, “I’m pretty happy with how we did; it was a fun event.”

There were 8 first-years overall who gained experience by participating in the Drive team and Pit crew. Rookies on Pit crew gained technical knowledge while working on the robot, while rookies on the Drive team acquired competition knowledge.

As always, this was a thrilling event with much learning involved. We look forward to more events in the future! Some of our upcoming competitions are fast approaching; FLL Championship, STEAM Fair and Robot Zoo on Saturday, December 14th at Newton North. More info to come!