Yesterday the Newton high-school robotics team, the LigerBots, hosted the Newton Qualifier, one of two competitions for FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams held at Newton North HS each year. This tournament featured 23 FLL teams from Greater Boston, including six Newton-based teams:  The Day Dragons, Empow Studios, LazerRobotics, Plutonium 238, the Roaming Rovers, and the Supernovas. The Day Dragons won the Champion’s Award, the Roaming Rovers won the Robot Programming Award, and the LazerRobotics won the Inspiration Award.  The Roaming Rovers and Day Dragons qualified for the Eastern MA State Championship, which will be hosted by the LigerBots at Newton North HS on December 15, 9AM-3PM.

Accompanying the tournament was a maker fair featuring exhibits from the Newton Free Library, Green Newton, Einstein’s Workshop, Empow Studios, Droid Builders, SharkNinja, Hatch, Johnson String Instrument and well as LigerBots STEAM activities, including button making, paper airplanes, origami, 3D printing, brush bots, PB&J Robot, and binary beads. An even larger maker fair will be featured at the Eastern MA State Champship on December 15, and the public is again invited to this fun, free event. The LigerBots describe the tone of the event as “sports championship / science fair / family reunion / dance party!”