On Saturday, January 4th 2025, the LigerBots got together at WPS to kick off this year’s competition season as a team.

First, we watched a video livestream from FIRST presenting the game overview for this year’s game which is called Reefscape. In this game, Robots score pipes called coral on a metal bar structure known as a reef. At the same time, robots take playground balls called algae off and score them in a processor. Finally, robots climb on a metal cage to score the final points.

During the presentation, FIRST sent out the official game manual for Reefscape. After the presentation was over, we split into small groups for 3 Day Design, or 3DD for short and scoured the game manual to create a deeper understanding of the game.

After doing a quiz on the manual created by Coach Chris to help our members understand the game better, groups went into mechanism design for the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. Each group came up with different parts of the robot such as mechanisms to pick up and score coral and algae as well as climb on the cage.

On Monday, the third day of 3DD, we started in our 3DD groups to finalize our ideas before each group got a turn to present their ideas to the whole team. After all groups had presented, we had an open discussion as a whole team to decide what mechanisms we would use.

This was such a successful design period! We are excited to build our new 2025 robot in the upcoming weeks, and we are even more excited to compete with it in a few months!

On Mondays and Thursdays during the months of September to November at Newton North or South, the Ligerbots have been training first-years on electrical, marketing, software, and mechanical design.

First-years focusing on electrical engineering learn how to bring designs to life in the shop, while first-years in marketing learn how to create blog posts and manage fundraisers.

In software, first-years learn to properly code and program the robot. Finally, rookies focusing on mechanical design learn about different mechanics and parts before learning how to use C.A.D. (Computer Aided Design) to put their designs on paper.

Veterans, first-years, and coaches alike participate in preseason activities such as dismembering old robots, setting up for FLL events, and training to prepare for the build season.

In engaging in these activities, the LigerBot team members share memories and build a sense of community within the team to make it even stronger before build season.

The LigerBots are a team that stresses the importance of teamwork and unity in all it’s members. It is especially important for older members to form bonds with rookies and assist them in learning the ropes to grow the LigerBots community.

“With all the support and help from the veterans and coaches during training,” said two LigerBot rookies, Lauren and Sofia, “it really makes you feel like you’re a part of this team.”

On December 14th the LigerBots hosted the First Lego League (FLL) East Massachusetts Championship at Newton North High School in Newton MA, using Lego robots built by students from grades 4 through 8th who are interested in robotics.

Besides the championship competition, the LigerBots also hosted a STEAM Expo event where many STEAM related activities were displayed to educate attendees. We also showed our 2022 competition robot alongside other robotics teams.

As the First Lego League is an important event in the STEAM world, many public figures and local businesses came to show their work to kids who might be interested in joining them in the future, giving workshops to spark their interests.

As the teams would get ready for the count down to begin, the field re-setters would recheck the arena before starting, making sure everything is in the right place. The referee would then give the okay, allowing the rest of the team to give a thumbs up signaling that they are ready to start their match.

As the judges decided on who the winning team was, the LigerBots held a raffle to win several LigerBots merch. As the judges decided who the championship winners were, teams who got awarded sportsmanship awards got called up and received a Lego trophy.

We are happy for all the winners of the FLL East MA Championship and teams who participated. Congrats to the Goofy Gyros for winning the FLL East MA Championship for the second year in a row!

On Thursday, December 5th, the LigerBots visited the John M. Barry Boys & Girls club in Newton where we showed the kids who attend their after school program our STEAM activities and our 2022 competition robot.

The John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club is a nonprofit after school program for kids in elementary and middle school. Most of the kids at this location are from Horace Mann elementary school with some coming from other schools in the area.

In addition to us being there, some local FLL Teams came to show the FLL playing field and their Lego robot for the game this year, Submerged. We saw them participate in the qualifier competition that we hosted at Newton North where many other teams from elsewhere in the state attended.

We did our skeleton handprint activity where the kids can make a glowing paper model representing the bones in their hands.
“A lot of them initially didn’t show much interest in the activity” said LigerBots CMO Felicia J. “But once they finished the activity and held up their handprint to the light, I saw every single kid that did it brighten up”

The kids could do our classic STEAM activity where they make binary bracelets spelling out their initials in binary code. This is one of the ways that the kids can explore the STEAM world through basic activities.

This was a really engaging event working with the Boys & Girls Club and we are excited to do more with them and other local organizations in the future!

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!