LigerBots Host Newton FLL Qualifier

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On November 18, Newton’s high-school robotics team, the LigerBots, hosted a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Newton Qualifier tournament — in which teams of elementary and middle schoolers passionate about robotics compete using LEGO robots that they have designed and built. The LigerBots have hosted FLL tournaments since 2008. This event had LEGOs and robots in every corner of the building, booming voices of the MC announcing matches, 14 FLL teams competing, and 70 LigerBot student volunteers working hard to run this show. FLL teams displayed their projects, on this year’s FIRST theme — The Arts — in the Newton North cafeteria.

FLL teams preparing their robots for competition — L: New England Code Crackers, R: Cookie Coders

The LigerBots set up a booth on Newton North’s Main Street corridor to showcase their 2022 FIRST Robotics Competition robot and two hands-on STEAM activities: making custom buttons and origami pieces. The FLL team members enjoyed interacting with the robot — a machine that can shoot giant tennis balls for them to catch — and found the  STEAM demonstrations entertaining.

Of the 14 FLL teams that attended, four are from Newton:  New England Code Crackers, Cookie Coders, The First Layer, and Voltage.

Newton FLL teams in the qualifying tournament, clockwise from top-left: New England Code Crackers, Cookie, Coders, The First Layer, and Voltage.

The tournament concluded with an awards ceremony and a dance party. All four teams from Newton received awards: Cookie Coders (Innovation Project first place), Voltage (Innovation Project second place), New England Code Crackers (Core Values first place) and The First Layer (Judges Award).

Among the six teams that qualified to continue to the state finals next month are two teams from Newton — Cookie Coders and New England Code Crackers — and four other teams: Goofy Gyros, Mechanical Madness, Acton Avengers, and The Mind Coders. These teams will compete at the upcoming Massachusetts FLL Championship, which will be divided between competitions at WPI and at Newton North High School.

The MA FLL Championship tournament at Newton North High School, also run by the LigerBots, will be on December 16, 9AM-4PM — free and open the public. As many as 48 FLL teams will compete head-to-head, and the LigerBots will once again host a STEAM Expo, run alongside the competition. At the STEAM Expo, 10AM-3PM, FLL team members and all attendees will have the opportunity to engage in a large variety of hands-on STEAM activities, explore a number of local organizations’ booths, and interact with bigger robots from FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge.