Ligerbots - 2877

The Team:

The Ligerbots is a FIRST robotics team that was founded in 2008 and is comprised of students from Newton North and South High Schools. The team is a diverse group of students with different backgrounds and ideas. It is supported by dedicated, experienced teachers, as well as corporate and community mentors. The Ligerbots are currently sponsored by PTC, Raytheon, Textron, McVittie Financial Advisors, NDEP, Whole Foods, and the Latino STEM Alliance. These sponsors provide financial support as well as our engineering and business mentors; without them, the team would fall apart. 

Who participated in 2012-13:

• 41 high school students participated in the engineering group, completing all aspects of designing, building and testing the robot. Students from the Newton North graphics department designed promotional materials, T-shirts, bandanas and buttons for the team.
• Four very dedicated Newton Public School faculty and staff worked along with parents and mentors to share their advice and expertise with team members. Collectively they put in thousands of hours of effort and helped build an experience that was both educational and fun.
• Numerous corporate and community mentors provided essential technical and organizational advice and support.

Our Name:

The name "LigerBots" was created by the team as a combination of the Newton South Lions and the Newton North Tigers. It reflects the union of the two schools, and because of this we strive to maintain a spirit of interscholastic unity whenever we attend events. For instance, our team is accompanied to competitions by two LigerMascots- one has the hands and head of a tiger and a lion’s body, while the other has the head and hands of a lion and a tiger’s body.

Team Origins:

Our first experience as a team was in late 2008, when the team was allowed to retrofit the Nu-trons old robot for the current season. It wouldn't have been possible without the coordinated efforts of Robin Saitz (of PTC), and North and South teachers and administrators. We refitted the robot in Northeasterns shop, giving it new arms (and new life). The team went on to compete in the Beantown Blitz, an annual post-season event hosted by the NUTRONS. As we started work after the season ended, we weren't registered as a FIRST team. We competed at the Beantown Blitz as team 3125 as we were a "child" of the NUTRONS- FRC Team 125. In the years afterwards, we established ourselves as a fully-fledged team and have competed in ten other FIRST competitions to date.