LigerBots students pose on top of a pile of crushed pumpkins during Pumpkin Smash.
On November 6, The LigerBots unveiled two pumpkin-smashing machines for Newton’s annual Pumpkin Smash, an event at City Hall that encourages residents to compost their pumpkins in the best way possible—by throwing, tossing, or crushing them!
Both machines featured massive sledgehammers to obliterate pumpkins, though with slightly-different mechanisms: the first utilized our 2020 robot pulling a rope to trigger its sledgehammer, and the second used balls thrown from our 2022 robot to push its hammer down.
LigerBots students worked tirelessly the past few weeks to design and build the machines. With the guidance of veteran members, first-years learned essential skills in design, prototyping, CAD (computer-aided design), and manufacturing to create the pumpkin-smashing mechanisms.
During Pumpkin Smash, onlookers watch in awe after one of our smashers destroys a pumpkin.
Alongside destroying hundreds of pumpkins, the LigerBots also led a booth for children with hands-on STEAM activities, including our popular binary beads and origami activities.
With the help of LigerBots members, children create bracelets encoding short messages using morse code during Pumpkin Smash.
After the event, the crushed pumpkins were composted by Black Earth Compost to nourish the city’s soil. An estimated 750 to 1,000 Newton residents attended the event, making it a smashing success!
The aftermath after our smashing mechanisms destroy hundreds of smashed pumpkins.
On Monday, November 7, we launched our annual Mock Three-Day Design process, an activity that brings first-years, veterans, and mentors into the engineering process in preparation for kick off in January. Over three Mondays, design groups will brainstorm, negotiate, organize, and present ideas in robot mechanisms that will help the team during competition season. We can’t wait to see what groups will come up with!
All team members not involved in Mock Three-Day Design are currently preparing for the upcoming FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Newton Qualifier, a LEGO robotics tournament for elementary and middle schoolers. We invite you to come cheer on local FLL teams at this year’s event, which will be on November 19 at Newton North. A STEAM Expo, featuring hands-on science activities for children, will also be hosted. Read here for more information about FLL.
LigerBots continues going strong in team training and fall projects. Engineering students—including many first-years—are upgrading our drivetrain (the mechanism a robot uses to propel itself) to increase freedom on the field and improve modularity compared to past drivetrains. New programming students are beginning to use Java to help program this drivetrain. In the CAD group, first-years are learning basic CAD skills in preparation for a CADathon—a short, collaborative CAD event—over Thanksgiving break. Marketing students are working on contacting clubs and companies to promote our upcoming FLL STEAM Expo, which will happen concurrently with the FLL Tournament. And, in the graphics group, students are developing visual materials for the upcoming First Lego League tournament, including a STEAM flyer for a DIY gimbal activity.
In the graphics group, Coach Diane photographs Katie creating a gimbal for a STEAM activity flyer.
Finally, an exciting announcement—for the entirety of November, the LigerBots’ accomplishments are on display at the Newton Free Library! Come see our two displays, located next to the main desk on the first floor. Thanks to the graphics group for designing the displays! Read our announcement here.
Graphics director Emily next to one of the display cases featuring our team.
For the month of November, the LigerBots’ achievements will be proudly showcased at the Newton Free Library. The two display cases, featuring the LigerBots’ accomplishments in both FIRST Robotics and community outreach, are located next to the main desk on the first floor. A big thanks to the graphics group, led by graphics director Emily and mentor Diane Levy, for creating such beautiful displays!
Join us at the FIRST LEGO League Newton Qualifier and STEAM Expo!
November 9, 2022
Attention everyone interested in STEAM!
Want to spend a Saturday afternoon doing fun, hands-on STEAM activities for children or watching robots compete in this year’s Newton Qualifier in the FIRST LEGO League Tournament? The LigerBots, an award-winning high school robotics team, will be hosting this year’s FLL Tournament Newton Qualifier and STEAM Expo on Saturday, November 19 from 12–5 p.m. at Newton North High School. Masks are required except for designated eating locations and admission is free!
In the spirit of FIRST encouraging students to mentor other students, the LigerBots host a tournament for younger students every year. The FLL Challenge is a program targeting 4th–8th graders to design and build robots out of LEGOs. In this Newton Qualifier for the FLL Tournament, Elementary and middle school teams will compete with robots under the theme “Super Powered,” inspired by the sustainable energy development of the United Nations!
Meanwhile, at the STEAM Expo, kids will have the opportunity to learn:
Science: making slime using chemistry
Technology: programming a human robot
Engineering: crafting a balloon car with working axles
Art: building artistic technique with string instruments
Math: creating origami
Come interact with robots! The LigerBots build a new 120-pound robot every year and will be showing off Prometheus, our 2022 robot, at the STEAM Expo! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, explore and encourage STEAM in our community and the younger generation!
Come see the LigerBots Displays at the Newton Free Library!
November 7, 2022
Graphics director Emily next to one of the display cases featuring our team.
For the month of November, the LigerBots’ achievements will be proudly showcased at the Newton Free Library. The two display cases, featuring the LigerBots’ accomplishments in both FIRST Robotics and community outreach, are located next to the main desk on the first floor. A big thanks to the graphics group, led by graphics director Emily and mentor Diane Levy, for creating such beautiful displays!
LigerBots have an Awesome Time at N.E.R.D.!
October 30, 2022
During N.E.R.D., Co-CTO Nate positions the robot for autonomous drive. After a match, LigerBots students take the robot off of the climbing assembly.
On October 22, twenty-five LigerBots attended the first annual New England Robotics Derby (N.E.R.D.), an off-season robotics competition hosted by fellow FRC team Billerica Bionics at Billerica Memorial High School. We competed alongside twenty-seven other teams.
N.E.R.D. was a great experience for our new members to get a feel for the FIRST Robotics Competition atmosphere. They helped set up the game field, learning about how large-scale field elements, like the climb assembly and driver stations, can be broken into smaller parts. Grasping driver and troubleshooting skills, several first-years also assisted in driving the robot and repairing it between matches. LigerBots students also met many other teams and learned about their different robot designs and strategies.
In preparation for a match, the drive team sets up the drive computer.
Our team did a fantastic job by making it to the quarter-finals. More importantly, this event was an incredible learning experience for learning the ropes of competition, including field setup, pit repair, teamwork, and “coopertition”—cooperative competition.
To the shock of onlookers, Co-CTO Kevin shoots a sick shot during N.E.R.D.’s human player challenge.
The LigerBots Continue an Awesome Preseason!
October 21, 2022
During Newton Green Expo, a group of children catches balls shot from the LigerBots 2020 robot, “Perses.”
Thanks to our successful recruitment efforts, training is now underway for more than 60 first-years! Group leads across all subgroups have been working hard to train new students.
In the shop, Eddie helps a student safely maneuver the drill press.
In the mechanical subgroup, first-years disassembled the 2016 robot to learn more about its structure. CTO Kevin, comparing the first-years’ enthusiasm to gruesome decomposition, commented that “they took apart the robot like maggots.” First-years also explored prototyping by designing pumpkin-smashing mechanisms, a great preparation for the Newton Pumpkin Smash on November 5.
First-years interested in CAD explored Onshape, a software system dedicated to CAD (computer-aided design) by using different tools to create simple 3D objects, like a star and a book.
New programming group members learned the workflow of programming by writing “pseudocode” or plain language descriptions of real-life problems involving yearly population increases or how many prime numbers there are between 20 and 999.
Graphics students work on display case designs for the Newton Free Library.
And, in the graphics group, new Graphics members explored InDesign, a page-layout program. They also assisted in the design of displays for the display cases at the Newton Free Library, where we will be featured during the month of November.
Besides training, the LigerBots attended Newton Green Expo at the Newton Centre Green on October 17. Featuring local companies and organizations focused on sustainable practices and products, Newton Green Expo draws more than a thousand people every year by encouraging climate action. Our booth featured our 2020 robot, “Perses,” as well as several STEAM activities. Children had tons of fun creating balloon cars, solar ovens, and origami!
During Green Expo, a child catches a ball shot from our robot, “Perses.”Team member Parker helps a child create origami pyramids during Green Expo.
This Saturday, October 22, the LigerBots will compete in the first annual New England Robotics Derby (N.E.R.D.), an off-season competition held at Billerica Memorial High School. More information can be found here. Come see us!
