Placing 10th in New England at DCMP, the LigerBots advance to Worlds in Houston.

From April 15th to 18th, the LigerBots competed with 99 other teams at the New England District Championship at the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts.

LigerBots team photo

It had already been a successful season so far. During the North Shore qualifier earlier this year, the LigerBots won the FIRST Impact Award, one of the most prestigious awards at FIRST. The team was also Captain of Alliance 6 with our alliance partners AIR STRIKE 78 and Control Freaks 5735; the Ligerbots ended up being 8th overall during these qualifications. 

North Shore Qualifier

Two weeks later, at the Greater Boston Qualifier, LigerBots’ 2026 robot, Hermes, led the team to become the second of eight Alliance Captains during the playoffs. We pulled off a comeback victory, bringing home our second blue banner. Not only did we win the qualifier, but one of the LigerBots’ students was selected to be a FIRST leadership semi-finalist, and Coach Chris was named a Woodie Flowers Semifinalist. To round this all out, the LigerBots captured the Engineering Inspiration Award, which recognizes a team that has inspired engineering in their school and team community qualifying the team an invitation to District Championships three times over.

A team member recognized as a semi-finalist FIRST Leadership Award

During DCMP, we started off the day with nerves about getting into a good alliance, ending the day ranked 1st in the state on Day 1. On Day 2, we were pulled for the first pick of Alliance 5, with team Captain FRC 1922 Oz-Ram from Hopkinton MA, and FRC 1153 the Timberwolves from Walpole MA. Being placed with these two amazing teams allowed Hermes to perform at its best. We made it to the semifinals and ended up placing 10th overall in New England. Next we are headed to Houston, Texas for the FIRST World Championships!

Team Spirit at DCMP

Follow along as we head to Texas in the next week to compete amongst the top high school robotics teams in the world!

Today, we hosted a science fair at Lincoln-Elliot elementary. Kids participated in outreach events and had a fun time!

With “We Are the Champions” by Queen filling the arena and teammates cheering from the stands, the LigerBots, leading their alliance, claimed victory at the Greater Boston FIRST Robotics Competition held at Revere High School, topping a field of 37 teams in a dramatic, come-from-behind finish. The NE FIRST 7 week competition season still has 3 weeks to go, but LigerBots has secured their spot at the District Championships (DCMP)!

This weekend, earning the 2nd overall seed after 74 qualifying matches, the LigerBots dominated their way through the bracket, making the playoffs and winning every match in the playoffs until falling to the 1st seed Alliance in the semifinals. Fighting back through the lower bracket, FRC 2877 along with FRC 151, FRC 190 and backup robot FRC 8626 advanced to a best-of-three finals. There, they began by winning a nail-biting first match by just 4 points before dropping the second. In the decisive third match, our Alliance, with team 151 playing critical defense and teams 190 and 2877 pounding points into the hub, upset the 1st seed alliance by 4 points again to take the title!

Beyond the finals, the LigerBots earned three FIRST awards that reflect the team’s broader impact. The Engineering Inspiration Award recognized the team for their commitment to inspiring progress and innovation through engineering. Also, team member Felicia was honored by being named a semifinalist for the FIRST Leadership award, sending her to DCMP to compete with the semi finalists from other qualifiers held around the district. In addition, Coach Chris was nominated for the Woodie Flowers award, which recognizes coaches for their impact on their teams and in FIRST.

This victory builds on momentum from just two weeks earlier, when the LigerBots captured the FIRST Impact Award at the North Shore qualifier in Reading—the organization’s highest honor, celebrating teams that best embody a model for others through outreach and community impact. That win had already secured their qualification for District Championships.

Now, their robot, Hermes, earned its own way onto the field to compete with 70+ of the top teams in New England! There, the LigerBots will showcase not only the performance and strategy of their robot, but also their hallmark values of innovation, teamwork, leadership, and “gracious professionalism.”

Next stop: District Championships in Springfield, MA April 15-18th.

At Newton South, we hosted the neurodivergent steam fair. Students participated in STEAM activities, and had fun engaging with LigerBots members.

LigerBots Advance with the FIRST Impact Award at North Shore Competition

Our team’s robot, “Hermes” scoring

In a competition built on robots, the biggest victory turned out to be human. We traveled to Reading High School, on March 14th and 15th for the Northshore Competition. We won the most prestigious, FIRST Impact award giving us our golden ticket to District Championships!

Hermes and one of our alliance members team 78 (Airstrike)

76 qualifier matches were played over two days of competition. The LigerBots were in 12 of those matches and winning 8 and thus garnering enough ranking points to finish 8th out of the 38 robots competing. This guaranteed us a spot in the playoffs. 

LigerBots’ pit crew working on Hermes

Our scouts watched and wrote down everything to collect data about other teams’ statistics and find us a strong team. Head scout Sebastian S commented, “Scouting is like fantasy sports, a lot of analysis and numbers. Make your perfect team”.  The data gathered was key to our alliance selection. We were captain of alliance 6 and we picked team 78 (Airstrike) and team 5735 (Control Freaks). We got up to the 2nd round of the playoffs and our alliance ranked 5th overall.

Our Impact team getting ready to make their presentation

The main highlight of this event for us was winning the FIRST Impact award which honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. Impact team member Felicia J noted that, “We had a great presentation for our first competition and we were very excited to see our hard work in preparing paid off” 

The LigerBots team with the FIRST Impact award!

The FIRST Impact award guarantees us a spot in the District Championships in April so we are incredibly grateful to have been given the award. But before that, we will be competing in the Greater Boston Competition on March 28th and 29th. Stay tuned for more!