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.
Winning team Mobot Ninjas preparing their robot!
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.
Timekeeper, DJ, and scorekeepers at work.
Our members were at work setting up the previous night and all day during the event running the competition and cleaning up after.
Ducking low at the limbo competition!
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®.
Mechanical Madness showing their booth to Coach Jake.
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.
Playing catch with the LigerBots’ 2022 robot!
While the teams were between matches, they could visit our LigerBooth outside the pit where we featured several STEAM activities and our 2022 robot.
Coach Fitz announcing the awards with the judges behind him.
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!
Fun with STEAM Activities at Angier’s Science Fair!
November 25, 2024
LigerBots members taking a group photo with students from Angier Elementary School.
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!
Children were able to make parachutes and learn about friction and air drag.
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!
A team member helps a few kids to make slime using glue, saline solution and food coloring.
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.
A kid feeding a ball into the intake of our 2022 robot.
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.
LigerBots team member Jack helps children to make kaleidoscopes out of recycled objects, which teaches them about reflectivity of materials.
Stay tuned for our exciting upcoming events, including our inaugural Boys and Girls club workshop and the FLL Championship STEAM Expo coming in December!
Pumpkin Smash at Newton City Hall
LigerBots team photo taken during cleanup; everyone is full of pride and accomplishment!
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.
A pumpkin in the midst of being smashed!
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!
A student passionately works to trace the bones of their skeleton hand
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!
Fans watch as pumpkins are annihilated
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.
Resulting pumpkin graveyard
Pre-season RiverRage Competition
LigerBots team meeting.
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!
Team members collaborating with the Drive team.
During Riverrage we overcame many challenges as a team. We also worked together to fix the robot and successfully manage the problems.
Veteran Pit Crew members are transporting the robot onto the competition floor.
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.”
Rookie Karina F. works together with Co-CTO Yutong Y. to gain experience while working on the robot.
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.
Transferring robot onto field.
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!
Kicking Off a New Year at Open House
November 21, 2024
On September 30, 2024, dozens of eager future engineers came to Newton South High for an opportunity to learn about LigerBots—for many of them, a first time experience.
Veterans and aspiring members watch the intro presentation.
Rookies and Veterans alike were listening to the intro presentation as the coaches explained the LigerBots’ goals for the year. Many new students had the opportunity to learn about strategies we used for past competitions.
A group of rookies practice driving the 2024 robot.
One of the rookies driving the robot was very surprised while testing the controls, as it was more difficult than most people would have imagined, while rookies waited in line for their turn on the robot.
Veteran members put the rookie’s lego bridge to the test under heavy weight.
One of our stations had rookies make a bridge out of legos and test how much weight it could hold. Engineering skills on LigerBots are made from the day students join.
Teaching rookies how to do outreach activities
At one station, rookies could do Binary Beads, one of our most used outreach activities which involves spelling out initials in binary. This activity mirrors real computer language and makes it a fun STEAM-related activity while being relatively simple. We are glad to see so many show interest in joining the LigerBots and we hope to see many of them at our next meeting!
