LigerBots compete at the World Championship!
May 2, 2024

After competing at tough qualifying events and the NE District Championship, we headed to the FIRST World Championship for the first time in six years! For four thrilling days from April 17th to 20th, 2024, we teamed up with 600 FRC teams from all over the world at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center for an exciting competition and exploration!

LigerBots team photo!

Before our highly anticipated trip, we dove straight into preparations. One day was dedicated to packing every inch of our coach’s car and trailer with our robot, its components, pit equipment, spirit supplies and more. On another day, team members poured countless hours into assembling buttons, producing over a thousand by hand! Some team members even dyed their hair orange in demonstration of LigerBots team spirit!

LigerBot team members Yonatan and Yutong assembling buttons for Worlds

Early on Wednesday of April 16th, the LigerBots flew from Boston to Houston, meeting other New England teams along the way. Upon landing in the humid Houston climate, it was all hands on deck as we immediately got to work. We set up our pit, calibrated our robot for inspection, played in practice matches, and prepared match scouting strategies. 

LigerBots team members arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston

After the championship’s commencement, our team was placed into a division of 75 teams, with 124 intense qualifiers. Our division, Johnson, was named after NASA scientist Katherine Johnson. Following two days of qualifiers, we ended ranked 6th out of 75 teams, an unbelievable feat that allowed us to become the 5th seed alliance captain. Throughout the competition, our strategy team thoroughly analyzed scouting data, leading to our selection of three teams to be on our alliance: Nashoba Robotics #1768, ROBOTZ Garage #4451, and ICRobotics #5584, interestingly an Australian team. Our playoff matches proved tough, but unfortunately we were eliminated after losing our matches by a narrow margin. 

LigerBots team members cheering as we compete in our qualifier matches
Calliope approaching its climb onto the stage
LigerBots drive team posing with our alliance partners

Alongside the competition, the FIRST Championship was a place for exploration. Some team members walked around 600 FRC pits, collecting dozens of pounds of pins. Others explored the simultaneous FTC and FLL competitions, particularly to cheer on the FLL team such as the Goofy Gyros, an outstanding team that competed at both FLL tournaments that we hosted in the fall. During downtime, team members scattered around the tens of dozens of booths at the Innovation Expo, including colleges and leading tech companies.

FLL Team Goofy Gyros competing

After the competition, we made the most of the Houston trip. We explored the Johnson Space Center, FRC Team 118, the Robonauts’s open house, and the nearby aquarium. What a great end to such an experience!

LigerBots outside the Johnson Space Center

This wraps up our 2024 competition season…wow what an incredible season. As we approach the spring, we are jumping straight into our off-season, attending many more outreach events, working on offseason projects, and gearing up for the 2024-2025 year. 


LigerBots Delivering at the District Championship
April 11, 2024
LigerBots posing with alliance partners

The LigerBots played strongly at the New England District Championship in West Springfield from April 3-6.

This year’s robot, Calliope zooms on the field

On Thursday and Friday, 96 qualification rounds were held. With one of the hardest schedules out of all teams, the LigerBots was 7th Alliance’s first pick during alliance selection for playoffs on Saturday. Along with our alliance captain 1699 Robocats and alliance partner 88 TJ2, they scored the highest number of points in the whole competition, during playoffs, reaching an astounding 147 points in one round!

LigerBots FIRST Impact Award presenters

At our last competition, the Greater Boston Event in Revere, we won the FIRST Impact Award, the most prestigious award in FIRST. Winning this award got us invited to present our Impact Award presentation at the District Championship. During the presentation, judges paused their timer and the presentation team had to pause as an earthquake shook the room. 

“Their presentation was Earth-shaking!” joked head coach John Fitzpatrick.

LigerBots running the Engineering Inspiration expo booth

Throughout this three day championship, the team competed for Engineering Inspiration Award, which gave us the opportunity to display a booth at expo along with other teams competing for Engineering Inspiration. Our booths displayed various hands-on STEAM activities, as well as our 2022 competition robot shooting large tennis balls for bypassers to catch!

LigerBots cheering in the stands

“Despite the difficulty of our match schedule, we did really well overall, and I’m excited to watch the team improve by DCMP next year” commented COO Charlotte S.


LigerBots go to Cabot Elementary School
March 29, 2024
Kids loading up the robot!

We can build robots, program them, and entertain kids! Cabot Invention Invasion is Cabot’s annual science fair where the students K-5 display projects demonstrating their curiosity. On March 26, LigerBots members volunteered to entertain children at the Cabot Elementary School science fair!

Team member entertaining children with steam expo activities!

During this event, students spent 2 hours engaging children with our past competition robot capable of shooting out balls! We hosted various STEAM expo activities consisting of binary beads, origami, and skeleton hands!

Team member assists child with catching!

We invited participants, who may have missed their opportunity to display at this event, to enter the science fair that LigerBots will be hosting, on May 19th. We also introduce families to FLL(FIRST Lego League) which offers several programs for that age group. Most of all, we hope we’ve sparked their interest in robotics, so they’ll join us in the future!


Competing at the Greater Boston Qualifier
March 28, 2024
LigerBots performing the macarena!

The LigerBots are back at it again! Our team had an outstanding performance at the Greater Boston Qualifier hosted at Revere High school, March 23-24.

LigerBots posing while holding the winning FIRST impact award!

LigerBots has won the FIRST impact award, the most prestigious award in FIRST! Because we won this award, we were invited to compete in the upcoming New England District Championship.

“Part of the reason why we won was because of the unique story we had, especially because of our circumstances this build season.” said FIRST impact team member Felicia J, “Another reason why we won is because of the efforts that all the members of our first impact team went through, going to meetings 6 days a week”.

FIRST impact team posing with our award.!

We wouldn’t have won this award without our FIRST impact award team, who presented to judges about what the LigerBots does, how we impact the community and spread FIRST values.

Drive team member throwing a note, this year’s game piece, to obtain more points.

We performed well in the competition, and are currently in 20th place out of 185 teams in New England.

“This competition taught us a lot, we saw massive improvements on our consistency. We have identified some weak spots that we can work on. This competition has left a certain spot in my heart!” said drive team member Emily P.

Showing some love and support to our robot, Calliope!

Next week starts the New England District Championship, April 4-6, which we are able to attend due to us qualifying for the Engineering Inspiration and FIRST impact award!

 


Greater Boston District Event, here we come!
March 21, 2024
2877 robot locking the chains for points!

Boston, prepare yourself for the LigerBots! We have just spent the past two weeks repairing and rebuilding Calliope, our robot, to face the strong opponents waiting for us at Revere this weekend from March 23-24.

First impact team rehearsing for the competition! 
First impact team posing for the picture!

Once again, we will be showcasing the impact our team has brought to our community beyond our robot as well as joining in the excitement on the field!

Like us on facebook or follow us on instagram! We will be posting the link to the live feed for at home viewing. Click this link to see all the teams competing against us!

It’s a full contact sport, thank goodness for bumpers!

“Since the last competition we have looked at what damage was done and made improvements to the robot’s durability, strength and reliability” said team member Elliot S.

Robot shooting the music disc!

Here’s to another outstanding performance and rocking out this competition!