On Tuesday, February 23, Nemesis members proudly accepted a generous $2,500 donation from the local branch of Investors Bank, who were eager to support the team. As competition season rapidly approaches, FRC Team 2590 continues to search near and far for financial cooperation in their ambitious venture. Finance Team member Jarelle Boac recently  cold-called Investors Bank and CFO Colin Riley followed up by applying directly for a grant from Investors Foundation. After this, the team was ecstatic to see an email from Investors, promising sponsorship and asking to arrange an official check presentation with the team.

The team sprung into action, quickly arranging the meeting. With the help of  dedicated parents and mentors, four team members (Marketing Director Laura Quon, CFO Colin Riley, Jarelle, and Marketing Team member Nick Anderson) met at Investor’s Bank promptly after school. The group received a warm welcome and met with the team’s new sponsors. The people of Investors Bank were more than happy to offer support to Nemesis.

While it is often unmentioned, this process of reaching out to sponsors and quickly reacting to positive responses, no matter when they may arrive, is something the Marketing and Finance Teams must do regularly. Similar to the real world of business, team members must rely on their own sense of judgment and initiative to make quick decisions, a skill that many members have refined greatly in their time with the team. It certainly pays to “run the team like a business!”

By: Melinda Beyer & Nicholas Began

In a heart-warming fusion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and charity, FIRST Robotics Team Nemesis 2590 has partnered with e-NABLE, an organization of countless volunteers whose mission is to build and distribute 3D-printed prosthetic hands to those in need.

Ivan Owan founded e-NABLE in 2011, after he posted a video on Youtube about his cosplay metal hand for a science-fiction convention. The video reached a South African carpenter named Richard Van As, who had lost his fingers in a woodworking accident. Despite the 10,000 miles between them, the pair began to communicate, sending each other prototypes constructed from materials found around their houses over the internet. Enabling The Future gathered a following and the organization was born.

The 3D-printed hands provide an affordable option for many families for whom prosthetics are financially out of reach.

Harrison Young, a Nemesis alumnus, spearheaded the initiative to use the team's skills in MakerBot technology to create 3D-printed hands for the life-changing organization. Exuberance flooded the Technology Lab when our first hand was finally complete. Word of the prosthetic hand spread like wildfire and many students not involved with Nemesis visited the Technology Lab to see the source of all the excitement. The entire Robbinsville High School community was delighted to see one of their own creating such an impact.

Through this partnership with e-NABLE, the team spreads the STEAM message while emphasizing the importance of altruism and service. Nemesis plans to continue working with e-NABLE to better the lives of those in need.  

If you are interested in supporting Nemesis or e-NABLE, please contact our Team Advisor Joy Wolfe at wolfe@robbinsville.k12.nj.us.

As week 4 is coming to a close and the competition season is just around the corner, the build team's productivity levels are still going strong. As prototyping is officially over, most of the build team has started to work on the final robot. We are working wholeheartedly to make sure that the robot will be completed in time to ensure our drivers get to practice before bag and tag.

This week we worked on milling the final parts of the drivetrain. The exec team is evaluating their options for the electrical board and requirements for the drivetrain.

The complex game obstacles are giving us a run for our money. The intake and shooter have final designs and have been tested on a practice bot.

During Week 4, everyone, from freshmen to seniors, was hard at work developing the robot.

Build season is coming to a close, and competition season is right around the corner. Nemesis invites you to come to any of the free high energy tournaments the team will be competing in...

Hatboro-Horsham District Competition: March 5 - 6, 2016

Hatboro-Horsham High School

899 Horsham Rd, Horsham, PA 19044

Seneca District Competition: March 19 - 20, 2016

Seneca High School

110 Carranza Rd, Tabernacle, NJ 08088

2016 South Florida Regional: April 1 - 2, 2016

Palm Beach Convention Center

650 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

We hope to qualify for:

FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship: April 14 – 16, 2016

Stabler Arena, Lehigh University

124 Goodman Dr, Bethlehem, PA 18015

2016 FIRST Championship: April 28 - 30, 2016

Edward Jones Dome

901 N Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63101

Week 4 of Build Season can be described by one word for the Business Team: Perfection! Nemesis’ Annual Sponsor Networking Night was held on Wednesday, February 3rd. Weeks of preparation went into ensuring this evening was a huge success. This week Business Team members mentored the Build Team members in public speaking and presenting, ensuring that they would uphold Nemesis’ reputation for excellence.

Nemesis presented their successful 2015 season and this year’s progress to the team's previous and potential sponsors along with team parents. Assemblyman and avid Nemesis supporter Dan Benson tweeted, “Great job by everyone tonight! Awesome challenge ahead, confident you're up to the task!”   Many of the sponsors and parents complimented team members for their organization, professionalism, and poise. Nemesis is incredibly grateful to all of their sponsors.

In other news, the week was spent finishing up the Chairman’s Award, the Woodie Flowers Award, and the Entrepreneurship Award. The team really came together to get it all done!

With the commotion of the 2016 FIRST Robotics build season at an all time high, Robbinsville High School’s (RHS) Robotics Team Nemesis FRC 2590, held their annual Sponsor Networking Night on Wednesday, February 3rd to demonstrate their gratuity and appreciation for their generous sponsors and parents. The evening showcased Nemesis’ culture, the 2015 season, and a look towards 2016. Chief Financial Officer Colin Riley and Chief Operations Officer Juhi Rajgopal gave a presentation familiarizing sponsors with the team’s financial status. Meanwhile, in the RHS Technology Lab, Senior Build Executive/Drive Coach Parth Mandrekar and Safety Captain Charlie D’Amico educated attendees on the 2016 FRC Challenge, FIRST Stronghold and on the progress and design of the 2016 robot.

Following the presentation, Mr. Gaetan Mangano of NAVAIR announced, “I was blown away by how well-organized and thoughtful this event was. I’m incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm everyone has shown on this team.”

The Marketing Team coached Build Team members on public speaking and presentation skills ensuring they uphold Nemesis’ reputation for excellence. The hours dedicated to preparing for Sponsor Networking Night paid off. The evening was an unquestionable success.

Robbinsville Town Council member Dan Schuberth was beyond impressed by Nemesis, “I wanted to thank you for the warm welcome and wonderful presentation at Wednesday evening's event. I was so impressed by the organization, professionalism, and passion demonstrated by every single person I met. You folks have built a powerhouse organization, and I am confident that you'll be successful in this year's challenge.”

For new team members this is an event like nothing they have experienced before. Freshman Marketing Team member Ethan Silberberg gives an impeccable description of his participation in Sponsor Networking Night, “It was amazing to talk to successful business executives and have them recognize us as a force to be reckoned with.”

Nemesis’ 2016 Sponsor Networking Night was a success, which can be attributed to all of the sponsors and parents and their continued belief in Nemesis.  For that, Nemesis would like to give a special thanks to: Robbinsville High School, Navair, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, Lockheed Martin, Investors Bank, Siemens, Robbinsville Education Association, RAS Process Equipment, Evans Analytical Group, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, The McGraw Hill Financials, Carfaro, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Designtree, Northstar Vets, SRI International, Triangle Copy, Coldwell Banker, as well as the Friends and Family of Nemesis.

If you are interested in supporting Nemesis or would like additional information, please contact Team Advisor Joy Wolfe at wolfe@robbinsville.k12.us.

It's hard to believe week three is already coming to a close! All week, the Marketing Team has scrambled to add the finishing touches for its annual Sponsor Networking Night! Ribbon and other decorative touches were added to the recently updated showcase, making it appear more beautiful than ever. New pictures were printed and added to the Chairman’s board to showcase all we have done since the past season when the judges last laid eyes on it. Our business plan and Chairman's Award submissions have come a long way recently, in preparation for their due date later this week. Meanwhile, the Finance Team busied themselves contacting current and potential sponsors via cold calls and emails.

The Sponsor Networking Night presentation was completed and is now ready for sponsor viewing. Additionally, our Web Team took official photographs of each subteam along with diligently working on the script for this year’s Chairman's Award video. The Logistics Team had their work cut out for them while continuing to book travel information for our upcoming trips to South Florida, and hopefully St. Louis.

Girls on the team had an especially exciting week filled with a trip to the spa alongside a few of our team mentors. They also visited the NARS makeup counter at Lord & Taylor where they all had their makeup done by professional makeup artists to give our girls a fresh new look in preparation for Sponsor Night.

As we close out the first half of build season, we come closer to our final design. Prototyping is almost finished for the main systems. Meanwhile, various groups for smaller subsystems are working feverishly. Small adjustments are all that’s left to do on the intake and shooter. The CAD team is finished with our drivetrain and we have begun to mill the parts.

For the past week, we have been prototyping and developing a multitude of devices to get through the defences, trying to combine multiple subsystems into one to save space and weight. Plans have changed several times to make the intake work.

We have a mostly finished prototype that our driver is currently testing. So far we have been successful in crossing the different terrain types. Still up, getting through the doors and gates. Once we have a successful prototype which can do that we will have a finished prototype robot.

We have had a few minor setbacks, including a blizzard, but that has not slowed down our progress. Thanks to GrabCad, our team was able to work in and out of our Tech Lab. The CAD is nearly complete and our team is running the mill whenever possible in this race against the clock. Once the frame is milled and assembled we can work towards adding subsystems to our robot. With the team entering the second half of build season we can only guess what will happen. Hopefully week 4 can as productive as the previous weeks have been.

An intensive Week 2 of build season finally comes to a close. It has been a dramatic week as the build team had to work fast, due to an impending winter storm.  The blizzard of 2016 cost us 3 valuable days of prototyping, CADing and building which made week 2 seem to fly by. After a review of week 1, the build team divided into subteams.  Each lead by a mentor and at least 2 upperclassmen so that every aspect of the game could be covered.  Subteams began to work on initial prototypes ranging from scoring systems to drivetrains. Our mentors also began to build different field elements for our team. We appreciate them for dedicating so much time to Nemesis.

Throughout week 2, prototype subteams continued to develop and create different mechanisms and drivetrains to overcome the defenses as well as scoring boulders. As field elements became available, subteams began testing their systems and refining them to near perfection. Later in the week, subteams started to combine the individual systems to eventually form a fully prototyped robot that can overcome most obstacles.  

While the prototypes were being perfected the design team worked hard on concept sketches and began to develop the final CAD of the robot. They also refined the designs of the prototypes so that they will work with the layout of the robot. Although work in the lab was brought to a halt due to Winter Storm Jonas, the design team was able to collaborate over GrabCad and continue progress on the final CAD of the robot from home. With Week 3 beginning, fabrication of the final robot is expected to begin shortly.

Woah! Week 2 of build season has already reached an end and the marketing team had their work cut out for them!  Everyone on the marketing team continued to work countless hours to put the finishing touches on our annual sponsor night event, which is next Wednesday, February 3. Invitations have been sent out and now we patiently wait for the responses from our generous sponsors. Our beautiful showcase in the main hallway of the high school is finally up to date and we couldn't be happier. Logistics is currently finalizing our trips to South Florida and St.Louis for competition season travel.  Finance is working vigorously on updating our business plan as well as overseeing invitation responses.  Meanwhile, the sponsor PowerPoint is being perfected and polished to ensure our sponsors are up to date and fully aware of all our 2015 successes and our plans for the 2016 season.

Next on our agenda is to coach our build members on the current FAQs and prepare the whole team for sponsor night, ensuring that the team can present themselves in a professional and polished manor. All in all, this week has been yet another success on the Marketing side of Nemesis, and we can not wait to see what the third week brings us.

Week one is over and it has been busy!  The Marketing Team has been preparing for Nemesis’ annual Sponsor Networking Night. The invitations have been made and are on their way to the post office.  In the meantime, the powerpoint and oral presentations for the evening are being created.  Team members are excited to meet sponsors and present all of the hard work we’ve done so far.  In the weeks leading up to Sponsor Networking Night, the Marketing Team will be enlightening Build Team members on presentation techniques and how to carry themselves properly, ensuring the entire team will have a polished and professional demeanor.

Furthermore, the showcases are being updated with a new set of wings and the awards and trophies won in the 2015 season.  Logistics has been working diligently to plan the team’s South Florida and St. Louis trips.  Finally, the Finance Team has sent letters thanking sponsors for recent donations as well as continuing the search for potential sponsors.  All in all, week one has been a huge success for the Marketing Team. They jumped headfirst into the work needed to be done during build season.

Finally! The long awaited build season is upon us. All of us here at Nemesis are excited and already hard at work. We kicked off the week with a full team game analysis meeting where we held enthusiastic discussions on how to approach this year’s challenge-- FIRST Stronghold! After hours of brainstorming and sketching our design ideas, we picked ideas and started prototyping. Shooting the boulders and overcoming outer work defensive field elements were our priorities. Subteams were assigned to prototype several methods to achieve these tasks. In this past week, we have successfully accomplished prototyping several subsystems for our robot, such as the intake, shooting, traversing difficult terrain, and even overcoming some of the most difficult obstacles.

Both catapult style and flywheel powered shooters were designed earlier in the week and have been refined and are now consistently reaching our desired target, the high goal of the castle. Our underclassmen were heavily involved in the creation and development of these prototypes, and we are proud to see them getting so involved this early in their FIRST Robotics career.  As far as getting our ball into our shooter, our intake prototypes are able to bring in the ball quite effectively. We modified our old kit-bots with pneumatic wheels to stagger our way across the low field elements. We are looking to improve our drivetrain in this upcoming week by designing our very own custom rhino tank drive! Subteams have been working on creating an elevator rotating hook mechanism to actuate the more complex field defenses. These designs still require further improvement, but more on that next week. We are excited to combine our prototypes and turn them into a honed machine that will hopefully lead us into an exciting competition season.

Let the countdown begin! On January 9, 2016, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics teams around the world waited impatiently to discover what game would rule their lives for the next year. The task: build a competition robot in a short 6-week period with finite resources. Each year, FIRST releases a new challenge that gives high school students the opportunity to test their robotics and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) knowledge in competitions at local, regional and international events.

Nemesis, Robbinsville High School’s FIRST Robotics Team, along with robotics teams from Allentown, Bridgewater-Raritan, Hamilton, Hightstown, Moorestown, and North Brunswick gathered at Montgomery High School for the kickoff of the 2016 FIRST Robotics Competition season, excited to watch the NASA-TV webcast revealing this year’s challenge.

A collection of workshops led by members of Montgomery’s own Cougar Robotics taught students a variety of subjects including Autodesk Inventor (a Computer-Aided Design --CAD-- program), pneumatics, gearboxes, and sensors.“The workshops are a great way to start the new season. Using Autodesk Inventor challenged me in a new way and I would love to work with it again!” stated senior and Director of Marketing and Communications Mitaali Taskar.

Anticipation was high as teams gathered in the auditorium for the live stream launch of the 2016 challenge. Students held their collective breath as they waited for the game to be announced. As the countdown neared its end, the crowd went wild. The official challenge of the 2016 season would be called FIRST STRONGHOLD!

FIRST STRONGHOLD, a medieval battle-inspired game, involves two alliances of three robots each who defend their castle while storming the opposing alliance’s citadel. They can elect to utilize a spy robot in enemy territory. The end goal of the game is to capture the enemy’s tower by successfully shooting balls into the opposing castle tower then surrounding it. The match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, when the robots are controlled solely by pre-written code. The remainder of the battle is 2 minutes and 15 seconds of intense, student-driven robot competition.

Nemesis is very excited to tackle this year's challenge and build upon the success of the 2015 season, where the team won the Hatboro-Horsham and North Brunswick District Events, the Montreal Regional, and competed at the FIRST World Championship. In addition, the team was recognized for its advantageous robot design with the Excellence in Engineering Award at both the Hatboro-Horsham District and Montreal Regional competitions.

“Although a much more complicated game than last year, we hope to repeat our prior success and continue learning throughout the build sesaon,” stated Build Executive and senior Parth Mandrekar.

Most notably, in 2015, was the strong performance of Nemesis’ Business Team. The students’ comprehensive business plan and business acumen was recognized with the Entrepreneurship Award not only at the district level at North Brunswick, but also at the international level at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis. Triumphing at the global level for the second consecutive year, Nemesis was recognized as one of the four strongest Business Teams in the world.

In the 2016 season, Nemesis will compete at the Hatboro-Horsham and Lenape-Seneca District competitions and the South Florida Regional in West Palm Beach, Florida. Qualification for the FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship and FIRST World Championship is dependent upon the team’s performance at the district and regional competitions. The team is always looking for financial and material sponsors and technical mentors. If you are interested in supporting the team please visit our website FRC2590.org.

Nemesis would like to thank their sponsors. Without them, none of this would be possible: Robbinsville High School, NAVAIR, Bristol-Myers Squibb, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, CCL Label, Siemens Corp., Lockheed Martin, Investor’s Bank, Robbinsville Education Association, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Designtree, Carfaro, Gilbane, RAS Process Equipment, EAG, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, Triangle Copy, SRI International, The McGraw Hill Financial, NorthStar VETS and Coldwell Banker .

As two classes of 4th grade students of Sharon Elementary School walked into their usually unchanged cafeteria, they were greeted instead by an enthusiastic team of red-clad high school students representing Robbinsville High School’s FIRST Robotics Team FRC 2590 Nemesis, a complex robot, and an interactive humanoid robot. “Seeing the wide smiles and bright eyes of the children when our robot came to life made the long nights in the tech lab worthwhile,” said build team member and junior Charlie D’Amico. The two classes were not just any two classes, but the two classes that donated the most canned goods in Nemesis’ annual food drive in November. Overall, the food drive was a success, with over 3,000 donations collected for the Robbinsville and Allentown Food Pantries in coordination with Sharon Elementary School. While all classes exhibited unprecedented altruism, the class that donated the most non-perishable items, winning the friendly competition instilled at Sharon School, was Ms. Dilts’s 4th grade class, while the class that donated the second-most goods, or the finalists, was Mrs. Berkey’s 4th grade class.      

Thus, on January 8, 2016, Ms. Dilts’s and Mrs. Berkey’s classes were treated to a demonstration of Nemesis’ 2012 competition robot, Prince, and its interactive humanoid NAO robot. The visit began with an introduction of the team members and a presentation describing what it’s like to be part of the team, especially during the tense six-week long build season and the ensuing competition season. Then, the classes were split, with one third of the students first receiving a demonstration of Prince and a description of the brainstorming and design processes of the Build Team, another third experiencing an explanation of the importance of coding from the Software Team, and a final third witnessing an entertaining routine featuring “The Macarena” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”courtesy of the NAO robot. At each station, the students eagerly asked questions, acquiring an in-depth look into the team.

After the groups rotated through the three stations, a question and answer session highlighting the Marketing Team immediately followed. Members from Nemesis elaborated on the responsibilities of the Marketing Team, including organizing travel, writing and publishing articles, and attaining sponsors to finance the robot.

As senior and Director of Marketing Laura Quon, explained, “Nemesis is more than just building robots, there is another side of the team that is just as important. It’s important that the students understand that the Marketing and Finance Teams are crucial to our success as a whole team.”

Afterwards, the team opened the floor to questions and immediately many students’ hands shot up in the air. After addressing the students’ questions, Nemesis bid farewell to the budding engineers and entrepreneurs of Sharon Elementary School.

Nemesis hopes that this demonstration will spark an interest in STEM that will inspire the students to continue pursuing their passions. “The students of Sharon School did an amazing thing for the community. Being able to give back to them was a truly rewarding experience", said Samantha Young, a senior build team member. Once again, Nemesis would like to thank the students and families of Sharon Elementary School for their generous donations that made the 2015 annual food drive the most successful ever.