The LigerBots, Newton’s dual-high-school FIRST Robotics team, traveled to Houston to compete in the FIRST World Championship on April 16-19. During the world championship, the LigerBots won the division Autonomous Award and were a Championship Division Winner in the Hopper Division.
For the first time in its 17-year history, the team reached the very top level of world competition, as a member of one of eight alliances that reached the finals in the coveted “Einstein” field. This is the second year in a row that the LigerBots have qualified for the championship — joining 600 other teams from around the world.
Students from Newton North and Newton South High Schools make up the LigerBots. The team excels not only in robot design but in business management, collaboration, and community service.
A senior at Newton South High School graduating in June, Yonatan T-M, has been a part of the LigerBots for four years. “The World Championship is an amazing event. It is 50,000 extremely dedicated people, you know, in a building, going crazy over robots. So it’s just fun to be there,” said Yonatan.
LigerBots mentor Chris Fann, an Amazon Robotics mechanical design engineer, has just finished his eighth season mentoring the LigerBots. “The competition went great. We were in the Hopper Division, and then after qualifications, we finished 32nd in the division. But more importantly, we were picked up as the second robot on the first Alliance,” said Fann explaining how the championship went.
The LigerBots competitive season started in January, but training for students began in the fall.
“I hope [the championship] was inspiring for them,” said Fann about his group of about 40 students that traveled to Houston. “Hopefully they got a chance to both be inspired by other teams, but also realize that our robot and this team was on par with those world-class robots from around the world,” he said.
On their way back, the LigerBots and their entourage of proud mentors and parents had their return flights delayed by nine hours. Fann said about half the students had to stay overnight in Nashville because of the travel disruption.
“I was really impressed by how everyone stepped up and was very mature and professional on the team of students, and how the mentors really just hit the ground running, finding solutions and making sure we all got home as quickly as possible,” said Yonatan.
“It’s exciting to see what we’ve been able to accomplish with all of these new students. I know next year’s robot design is going to be amazing,” said Yonatan.
