LigerBots INFINITE RECHARGE PUMA LEVEL SPONSORS A Guide to the LigerBots, 2O20 FIRST Robotics Team 2877 Newton North and South High Schools PANTHER LEVEL SPONSORS CHEETAH and LYNX LEVEL SPONSORS “You-do-it” Electronics Center Girl Scouts of America Ascensus JT’s Snowmobile Repair, Ltd. Printed by the Newton North High School Graphics Department How I Use My LigerBots Skills Out in the World “I learned how to fix pretty much “I have been able to apply for everything in my house, including my internships and to volunteer for car headlights. My neighbor who’s an nonprofits based on the leadership artist hired me for a summer job to skills I learned as co-CMO and on drill holes precisely to hang pictures on the strategy council.” his walls.” –AJ Chau Puma Level Sponsors LigerBots– Samy Rosenberg “IInfinite learned a lot of stuff about graphic Recharge “LigerBots has helped me with design—what looks good and what advocating for myself, especially with doesn’t, the importance of double teachers and with my peers in group checking everything, and how projects. It has also helped me make printing works, which actually helped friends with people I would never me to fix my own printer. It also have been friends with before, like a A Guidehelped me do a tobetter jobthe checking forLigerBots, 2O2Ogirl in the year below me in one of my errors on my math tests.” classes at school.” FIRST– Frank Liu Robotics Team 2877– Maya Lobel Panther Level Sponsors Newton North and South High Schools “I have learned how to problem-solve “ Using the skills I have learned from in different situations, and when building field elements, I was able to I’m stuck, I don’t immediately ask visualize and design what I needed to for help. I have learned how to tutor build for my brother’s cello racks.” myself.” – Daniel Feng – Michelle Yu Cheetah Level Sponsors “In LigerBots, a lot of things I have “I learned about communication, learned in physics have physical which is really important for school, representations, which helps me extracurricular activities, sports, understand the things I’m learning in college, jobs, and family stuff. If my classroom.” everyone’s not on the same page, – Yonik Rasamat nothing’s going to get done.” – Ethan Schindler Contents Chairman’s Award Submission Executive Summary n 5 LigerBots Lead in Project-Based Learning n 8 LigerBots Train Our Team Members n 10 LigerBots Train Team Members in Many Skills 12 LigerBots Manage Our Projects n 13 We Build a New 120 Pound Robot Every Year n 14 LigerBots Design Process 16 LigerBots Compete n 18 Our Strategy Council Helps Us Improve n 20 LigerBots Win the Safety Animation Contest n 22 LigerBots FIRST Awards n 23 LigerBots Promote FIRST LEGO League n 24 LigerBots FLL Maker Fairs Get Girls into STEM 26 LigerBots Maker Fairs Are Engaging 28 At FLL Tournaments LigerBots Fill Many Roles 29 LigerBots Engage with Our Community n 30 LigerBots Connect with Our Government n 32 LigerBots Do Outreach Everywhere! n 34 Outreach Flyer 36 LigerBots Are in the Public Media n 38 LigerBots Create Our Own Media n 40 LigerBots Connect with Our Sponsors n 42 Fundraising Infographic 43 Sponsor Recognition Levels Flyer 44 LigerBots Fund Our Activities n 46 LigerBots Do Special Projects: Donut Data n 48 LigerBots Student Leadership Structure n 50 Appendix: STEAM Activity Flyers n 51 Executive Summary Q: Briefly describe the impact of the FIRST Q: Describe examples of how your team members act as program on team participants in the last 5 years. role models and inspire other FIRST team members to A: Members develop technical and non-technical skills emulate. through project-based learning. We inspire team mem- A: The LigerBots created a Safety Animation video 100 bers towards STEAM careers, with a 100% graduation that was shown at all FRC competitions in 2018. We team members rate and over 71% of last year’s graduates choosing created a strategy alliance in New England, helping STEAM majors. In addition to STEAM skills, our 57 other teams scout and determine alliance pick strategy. 2019 registered team members learn life skills. One student We advise FRC teams worldwide by posting white 21 says, “LigerBots has helped me be more confident in papers on student-led projects. Our vision whitepaper outreach events social situations and academic settings. I’ve also alone has over 1,100 downloads and 6,300 views. In 2019 learned how to be an advocate for myself and for the addition, students and mentors from other teams seek things I’m passionate about.” us out and one team member even chose to move to Newton just to be a part of our team. Q: Describe the impact of the FIRST program on your community within the last 5 years. Q: Team’s initiatives to help start or form other FIRST 1700 A: The LigerBots are dedicated to creating STEAM Robotics Competition teams. FLL event attendees opportunities throughout our community. In the past A: We assist many teams by showing them our pro- 2019 five years, the Ligerbots have hosted or participated in cess, posting our work online, and being active in a total of 133 events and have mentored several FLL FRC forums. One team in Virginia, #5804, said, “the teams. In addition to hosting the FLL Qualifiers and code your team posted on GitHub has been incred- Eastern MA State Championship, with over 1,000 ibly helpful in determining the direction we want to visitors and participants a year, we host an annual FLL go this year with our programming.” In addition, we Info Night that encourages team creation. One FLL collaborated with team 6740 from Israel, and plan to parent said, “Thanks for inspiring my kids, they want have periodic conversations to discuss current projects. to be just like you.” We also assisted Record Robotics with fundraising and operational advice. Q: Describe the team’s innovative or creative methods to spread the FIRST message that are effective, scalable, Q: Describe the team’s initiatives to help start or form sustainable, and creative. other FIRST teams (including FIRST LEGO League Jr., A: Since 2015, we have hosted two annual FLL Com- FIRST LEGO League, & FIRST Tech Challenge). petitions, the Qualifiers and MA E. Championship, A: The LigerBots host an annual FLL Info Night in with accompanying public STEAM expos featuring June, with a targeted goal of expanding FIRST oppor- local companies and nonprofits. This and last year, tunities in Newton. At the event, we have an informa- 91 Girl Scouts attended and earned STEAM patch- tional meeting for parents where we describe FIRST. es.“Great job, I loved the competition and the kids We also engage children in STEAM activities, includ- had a blast,” said one parent. In addition, we have ing marshmallow towers, brushbots, binary beads, and educational flyers that can be downloaded and used robot demos done by both us and local FLL teams. LigerBots at the FIRST Robotics world championship in Detroit, April 2018. by STEAM fairs around the city, and we have a strong In 2019, we brought many families into the FIRST media and community-engagement program. pipeline. 5 Q: Describe the team’s initiatives on assisting other correspondence and attendance at their events. Each the state-level for $250,000 in funding to help smaller work we do locally. We are registered to attend future FIRST teams (including FIRST LEGO League Jr., month, the LigerBots write a newsletter detailing teams pay FIRST registration fees. Attending and par- advocacy events, and we encourage other teams to join FIRST LEGO League, & FIRST Tech Challenge). progress and inviting sponsors to our events. Sponsors ticipating in advocacy events helps us facilitate change us in advocating for STEM education. also demoed themselves at our FLL STEAM expo. on the national and state level and complements the A: The LigerBots host an annual FLL Info Night in One example is being invited to be tour guides and June, with a targeted goal of expanding FIRST oppor- demo our robot at Newton Inspires, as a result of tunities in Newton. At the event, we have an informa- being sponsored by Newton Schools Foundation. The tional meeting for parents where we describe FIRST. event encourages local experts to share their passions, We also engage children in STEAM activities, includ- with over 500 local residents. ing marshmallow towers, brushbots, binary beads, and robot demos done by both us and local FLL teams. Q: For FIRST Robotics Competition teams older than In 2019, we brought many families into the FIRST five years, briefly describe your team’s broader impact pipeline. from its inception. Q: Describe how your team works with other FIRST A: Since 2008, we have expanded as a team, boosting teams to serve as mentors to younger or less experienced skills, mentors, and funding to become stronger and FIRST teams (including FIRST LEGO League Jr., more influential in FIRST. We raised fundraising FIRST LEGO League, & FIRST Tech Challenge). capabilities, engaged the community via social media, and invited elected officials to events. We established A: In addition to hosting an FLL Info Night to create a mini-grant program to fund student ideas. This year, more teams, we mentor and offer support to any local we focused on strategy and data analysis. We invited a team who reaches out to us. This past FLL season, we computational biologist to mentor on data and analyt- mentored a new team, #38823, and coached #31761 ics. Members now use R, Python, and Tableau for data on their presentation skills.