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!
The LigerBots at Green Expo on a Sunny Sunday!
On October 20th, the LigerBots attended the Green Expo, which is part of Harvest Fest, an annual community event in Newton Center. With over 100 businesses, vendors and organizations showcasing a wide variety of goods and services, the event attracted thousands of people!
Team members posing for a picture at the booth
This event was a great way to connect with kids and adults from Newton and surrounding towns; and to promote a love for STEAM and possibly a future on the LigerBots team!
Coach Greer and a LigerBots team member assist with making a flexagon.
We had many visitors throughout the day who enjoyed our STEAM activities which included making slime, creating a skeleton hand and folding an origami flexagon.
A child mixing glue, baking soda food coloring and saline to make red slime
As usual, the 2024 robot was the main attraction. We had a lot of fun showing it off to parents and kids of all ages and had lots of great conversations!
Liam and Coach Paul talk about the robot with an interested patron
Save the date for the FLL Championship AND STEAM Expo on Saturday, December 14th at Newton North High School!
LigerBots to Host MA-E FLL Champs and STEAM Expo Dec. 14
Free, hands-on activities for kids will be offered by 27 local organizations at the LigerBots STEAM Expo, Sat., Dec. 14, 10–3 at Newton North High School! The expo accompanies the Massachusetts-East FIRST LEGO League Championship, hosted by the LigerBots. Come watch the tournament! Bring Drive a robot and climb on a fire truck! For more information visit https://ligerbots.org/fll. To sign up to exhibit or to see the list of exhibitors visit https://ligerbots.org/steam-expo.
STEAM Activities and Robot Demos at Newtonville Village Day!
On sunny Sunday, October 4th, the LigerBots attended Newtonville Village Day, the City’s largest annual village day. Many organizations and businesses, including local politicians, from Newton and the surrounding towns were there running booths with activities, sharing information, selling food, playing music, and performing dances.
Two attendees play catch with the robot.
We brought our 2022 competition robot, which is always a big hit, and used it to play catch with the people there. We also answered questions about how the robot works and its various parts and pieces.
LigerBots running the skeleton handprints STEAM activity. Kids had the opportunity to make a glowing model of the bones in their hand.
In addition, we featured various STEAM activities for children to engage with, including paper activities like origami and double pyramids. With our activities we aim to inspire young minds to appreciate and potentially pursue a STEM education.
Team member Jack, helps a few kids reload our robot for another shot.
The Newtonville Village Day event was amazing and fun for all who attended! We connected with many community members through conversations about our team and how it’s run, helping kids with the outreach activities and showing off our robot! Connections are always our goal at outreach events! We felt that we got people very interested in our team and robotics in general.
A LigerBots member running the origami activity.
Stay tuned for more events happening in the near future including our FLL Championship at STEAM Expo on Saturday, December 14th at Newton North High School.
