To make and organize a community event as a robotics team is simple. But it isn’t easy. To organize an event in your community, you need to find a venue, define the objectives, promote the event, and staff the event.

   Firstly, you have to find a venue for your event. The ideal event location should accommodate the number of people expected to attend. Some good example locations might be a school gymnasium, community center, or a conference room at your local library.

   Secondly, you need to define the objective of the event. You need to decide the purpose of the event. From showcasing the robot, raising funds for the team, etc. After deciding the purpose, it will be easier to plan the event and decide what activities you should have during the event.

   Third, you need to promote the event you are hosting. If people don’t know about the event, they won’t come to it. Some ways to promote the event is by creating online posters, social media posts, and flyers. You can also ask your local media to cover the event (media can include newspapers or ways that reach the community).

   Lastly, you need to staff the event. You need to have enough volunteers to oversee the activities and assist attendees and the organizers/hosts of the vent. You should make sure that the volunteers are knowledgeable about the team (and its activities). This way, the volunteers can answer any questions posed by attendees.

   In the end, hosting events is easy if you follow the steps in this article and plan the event well. When an event is planned well, it makes the event itself go well. 

   As the second week of build season draws close, Nemesis is making a splash with impressive progress across each subteam! The energy and collaboration in the lab are palpable as the team continues to transform goals for this season’s game, REEFSCAPE, into reality. 

   After the first week full of designing and prototyping, this week the fabrication team led the charge, diving into a range of tasks. From precision cutting parts for the Princeton FTC team to calibrating sensors and April Tags for autonomous navigation, their work has been meticulous and progressive. Repairing swerve modules and setting up the swerve drive systems has been critical to ensuring agility on the game field. Fabrication is also working towards field mapping which will provide crucial insight for strategy, while efforts to refine the indexer for ‘Coral’ scoring have taken shape. Overall, the team finalized the robot’s architecture, selected key prototypes, and began building the intake system. Behind the scenes, the software team worked on developing skeleton code to align with the evolving vision of the robot. The build team is hard at work turning perfected designs and prototypes into a reality. 

   Over the span of this week, the business team has continued preparing for the competition season while also planning for the upcoming annual Sponsor Night event. The entire business team collaborates to craft showcase displays, highlighting the team’s achievements and goals. These will not only display past accomplishments but also demonstrate the immense value and support of sponsors.Specifically, on business, the media team has worked to document and share the excitement of build season; capturing photographs of the team in action and creating engaging social media content to share with the community. The logistics team updated t-shirt designs, contacted sponsors, and planned for our upcoming district competitions. They also contributed to designing and enhancing the team showcases for sponsor night. In finance, the team has been reconciling the bank account, has continued to send out grant applications, and has updated our 5-year business plan. They have also been preparing for Sponsor Night by creating sponsor packets. 

   The outreach team has made significant progress this week, getting ready for upcoming community outreach projects. This includes organizing activities for Rose Hill and preparing for a forthcoming STEM workshop in Trenton. Nemesis collaborates with the Trenton Urban Promise charity to lead workshops and build STEM kits with children. Additionally, outreach efforts are in place for a collaboration with Girls Who Code and an 8th-grade planning night, where Nemesis will showcase our team and spark interest among 8th graders in potentially joining us. These initiatives aim to inspire local students while reinforcing Nemesis’s commitment to promoting STEM. From planning these initiatives to coordinating with non-profits, the outreach team ensures that Nemesis’s impact extends far beyond the competition field.

   The energy remains unwavering as the team is hard at work gearing up for REEFSCAPE with determination and focus. Nemesis has made incredible strides in Week 2 and eagerly anticipates the opportunities and progress Week 3 will bring.

Only one week into the build season and Nemesis is already preparing to make waves in “REEFSCAPE”, the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition season game presented by Haas.

This 6-week long marathon began with an action packed kickoff chalked full of brainstorming, prototyping, and creating a makeshift game field out of team members in order to see it lifesize.
Following the weekend - and a brief snowy set back - build and business team members got right to work.

The design team started on 2d sketches to figure out the geometry and architecture of the coming 2025 robot. They are prototyping ideas and testing them before putting more materials and time into the finalized parts. The leads are also teaching newer designers how the design process works.
However, teaching rookies on the team how to integrate into their chosen subteam(s) is not only happening on the design team. This begins as early as a rookie’s initiation onto Nemesis during September in the offseason. 
But learning on an FRC team is never done! And this active, hands-on approach that the build season offers is being expertly taken advantage of by our designers.

And that isn’t the only subteam swimming their laps around the lab; our software team has been just as busy.

The firmware on devices like prototype boards and past seasons robots have been updated to the latest versions. Getting previous robots up and running is especially helpful so that more members on the build team can test, practice, and learn new things for this upcoming season.
One of these robots is “Fury”, way back from 2018. Fury has been worked on to get the elevator and driving abilities working again for these exact reasons.
An elevator mechanic is especially helpful for this season’s teleoperated challenge of placing PVC pipes called “Coral” onto higher and higher branches.
Some rookies have been instructed with working on vision: implementing a way to use color to detect game pieces, like the “Algae”.
Scaling for vision and support for multiple cameras in order to have better pose data have also been administered during week 1.
Software leads have begun characterizing the swerve base, as well as working on pneumatics on a prototyping board
And the entire subteam has been utilizing the latest version of Advantagekit; a logging framework– to run simulations when resources are not available. This has garnered very positive feedback.

Another subteam has also been electric during this first dive into the build season: and it's none other than our electrical team!
They have been working with and testing out different prototypes, using pneumatics such as an algae shooter, and a coral end effector. These are still being tested.
The electrical members have also fixed, wired, and put a new motor on Fury so that it can be used by software.
This is a perfect example of how even though Nemesis is divided into sub teams, all team members are still very interconnected. This collaborative workspace is what really makes Nemesis an award winning team.
And, just like our design team, electrical leads and experienced members have also been teaching rookies about basic electrical components and the fundamental steps and practices when wiring a robot.

Taking a deeper dive to the behind the scenes of the build season, you can find the business team just as busy.

Our finance team has been writing and submitting grants. Without this, we wouldn’t have money to spend on travel costs, apparel, or even the basic materials we use to prototype and build our robots.

They’ve also made thank you notes for donors, reconciled bank transactions, and created sponsor packets for in-person sponsorship inquiries.
If you’re interested in learning more about what Nemesis has been up to so far in 2025, just like our amazing sponsors, think about attending Nemesis' annual Sponsor Night on February 20th.
    
The Impact team has been tirelessly writing up a script to present to judges as well as planning and executing outreach events at places like the elementary and middle schools in the Robbinsville District. They’ve been working on organizing events with local nonprofits, drafting Impact submissions, and creating presentations for upcoming events.

And the media team has been on top of a lot of work themselves.
Starting off strong with their goal of increasing Nemesis’ social media presence this year; many videos and photos were taken by camera wielding divers at kick off.
Photography has continued into this first week at the tech and computer labs, capturing exciting photos of Nemesis’ creative problem solving at work.
2025 button designs have been started. This project is spearheaded by the media lead, who uses the opportunity to teach upcoming media team members how to use programs like photoshop and adobe illustrator.
The media team has also used this time to update previous articles from the 2024 season; like the World Championship recap article.
Team bios and headshots are being updated on the website and prepare for full team and subteam photos the following weekend. And they are moving folders of photos and videos from 2024 from an old hard drive to a smaller faster one. This will make everything involving retrieving files much more seamless.

Week one has already been incredibly productive, but Nemesis is more than ready to “just keep swimming”  into week two!

  The 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season has introduced an exciting new game titled "REEFSCAPE," presented by Haas. This underwater-themed challenge is part of the broader FIRST DIVE season, which emphasizes ocean exploration as well as conservation. In REEFSCAPE, teams are tasked with designing and building robots capable of performing specific actions that simulate strengthening coral reef ecosystems. The game involves manipulating elements such as PVC pipes, which is then referred as “Coral” in the game and playground balls, known as “Algae”, which robots must then score into designated goals on the field.

   Additionally, during the endgame, robots aim to climb a truss structure called the “Barge” to earn extra points. The season officially commenced with the Kickoff event on January 4, 2025, continuing on to January 5, where the game was revealed to teams worldwide. This event marked the beginning of the build season, during which teams have six weeks to design, prototype, and construct their robots in preparation for regional competitions leading up to the FIRST Championship that is located in Houston. For teams like Nemesis 2590, the 2025 REEFSCAPE challenge offers a unique opportunity to apply engineering skills in creative ways that will be relative towards the game as well as outside-opportunities that can relate back to skills needed in day-to-day life. These kinds of skills are a crucial assets when working toward what is most important in their corporate, STEM, or even business jobs. All of these things are in play, however at the same time, they are also promoting the awareness of ocean ecosystems. The game encourages strategic thinking, teamwork, and innovation, aligning with FIRST's mission to inspire young people to become leaders in science and technology. As the build season progresses, Nemesis is delving into the specifics of the game manual and utilizing resources provided by FIRST, including the Q&A system and team updates, to ensure compliance with game rules and optimize their robot designs. On January 5, Saturday,  Nemesis watched the live playback of how this season's challenge was going to work, including specific details of how the rules and restrictions were gonna work moving on throughout these challenges. In order to prepare, The REEFSCAPE game not only challenges Nemesis to excel in robotics but also serves as an educational platform, highlighting the importance of ocean conservation and the role of technology in solving real-world environmental issues. As Nemesis 2590 embark on this journey, they contribute to a global movement that combines technical prowess with a commitment to making a positive impact on our planet. 
 

   This past Saturday, Nemesis 2590 entered the arena for Ramp Riot with excitement in the air. Hosted at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania, Ramp Riot is one of the signature off-season events for the FIRST Robotics Competition, attracting teams eager to test their robots, refine strategies, and train new team members. For Nemesis 2590, Ramp Riot was not only a competitive experience but a chance for team building and skill development. 

   The day began with the opening ceremony, where each team was introduced with energy. As Nemesis saw its opponents up close, the intensity of the competition set in. Teams wore their vibrant gear, rallying behind their robots as they prepared for their first matches. Ramp Riot, while smaller than regional events, still maintained the adrenaline and camaraderie of a full-fledged FRC tournament, with alliances working to score points through autonomous routines, shooting game pieces into goals, and climbing platforms.

   In the early rounds, Nemesis’s robot, Kronos, took the field with strength, scoring points for our alliance. But in the midst of the excitement, the team faced unexpected technical challenges. During a critical match, Kronos experienced a breakdown, putting the drive team under pressure as they worked to troubleshoot the issues. Moments like these are never easy, but they are a fundamental part of FIRST Robotics, where adapting to setbacks and solving problems under stress are essential skills.

   In between matches, the pit crew worked tirelessly to diagnose and repair the robot, tackling mechanical and technical issues with teamwork and resilience. 
   Meanwhile, other team members had focused on pit scouting. Pit scouting is an opportunity to not only gather data on other teams’ robots by observing their mechanisms, strategies, and strengths in the pit area but also to build effective alliances and understand the competition landscape. For Nemesis’s rookies, it was an eye-opening experience as they practiced note-taking and interviewing members from other teams. Though initially daunting, they quickly adapted, gathering insights into how each robot operated and using these notes to help shape match strategy.

   As the day wrapped up, Nemesis 2590 left Ramp Riot with a sense of pride and readiness for future challenges. The breakdowns and hurdles only served to make the team more resilient and prepared for what lies ahead. Ramp Riot provided a solid foundation to kick off the off-season, and Nemesis 2590 is now more motivated than ever to build, innovate, and push the limits of what they can achieve together in the world of FIRST Robotics.
 

On November 23rd, FLL teams from around the state came to Robbinsville High School to compete in the second annual Robbinsville Ruckus! The teams who competed that day had worked all season for their shot at glory. This event was a qualifier for the state competitions. 

As soon as the doors opened, teams flooded into the commons to set up their pits. It was an incredible sight to see teammates working together to prepare for the matches. The first part of the day was the impact presentations. This year’s FLL game was titled Submerged. This game was ocean themed. To correspond with this, teams were tasked with creating a presentation that showed a new and innovative way to combat a problem happening in the ocean. The judges were amazed with how creative teams were with their ideas.

Next came the practice matches. This was the period of the competition where teams could have warm up matches to test out strategies. After the practice matches, we invited everyone into the gym for the opening ceremony. The Emcee’s hyped the kids up and gave them a boost of adrenaline so they could do their best and have fun during the event. It was finally time for the official matches to begin, and the teams were more than ready. The kids were excited to finally get the chance to compete against other teams. Once past the queue, they walked into the gym with their heads held high ready for the challenge. After they set the robot on the field, the game would commence and the robot would have to complete the challenges. 

Thanks to the members of Nemesis, this event ran smoothly. 100% of Nemesis members volunteered for this event in multiple different roles. Team ambassadors helped teams get to their matches on time. Referees kept score. There were also field resetters and match queuers. It was great to see many of the FLL teams created by Nemesis at this event and how many kids those teams were able to introduce to FIRST. 

The day ended with the awards ceremony. The gym was filled with anticipation to see who would move on to the state competition. Every team had so much fun at this event and it was a great culmination to the FLL season. 
 

On October 26th and 27th, Nemesis held our annual Discovery Day. This event once again proved to be a success in spreading STEM throughout our local community. Elementary and middle school students were invited to Robbinsville High School for a fun-filled day of Nemesis-guided LEGO challenges that taught them how to build with EV3-powered LEGOS.

The challenges included building EV3-powered catapults and golf clubs while engaging in fierce competition between 25 groups of two campers. The first high-stakes competition was to see whose catapult could launch a ping-pong ball the farthest; each student put their minds to the test and were able to build their catapults from scratch. Every catapult had their own unique design that displayed the campers' creative minds. The team that launched the ping pong ball the farthest was Team Chris with an impressive distance of 114 inches! The runner ups were Nemesis Jrs with 96 and ER with 86 inches. 

The next fun filled challenge of the day was the golf club challenge. After the teams disassembled their catapults and learned about different types of golf clubs, they began work on building a driver and a putter. The setup of this challenge was just like a mini-golf course. The teams would use their driver and putter to get their ping-pong ball into the hole in the least amount of strokes possible. The team that won this challenge were the Lego Builders with just 3 swings! The second part of the golf challenge was to see who's club could hit the ball the farthest. The top 3 teams with the farthest distances over the course of the weekend were Destroyer with 352 inches, Wolfes with 349 inches, and Team Raptors with 269 inches.

In between these challenges, campers had the opportunity to drive the Nemesis competition robot Kronos. All the kids had a blast completing short missions with our 2024 robot; it also taught campers about the challenge Kronos competed in last year. Each camper was successful in driving the robot and launching a note, the orange discs used to gain points, into a target known as the speaker.

 The First Lego League (FLL) is an extraordinary and very important part of spreading STEM to kids(8-13yrs) and is a mini version of teams like Nemesis. The kids in a team come together to build a robot using LEGO and have their robot compete in competitions. Discovery Day offered an FLL table where Nemesis team members were able to expose the campers to what FLL is and how they can continue to learn and improve their STEM skills from it. FLL is a great way for kids to start in their STEM journey and many Nemesis members have been on FLL teams in the past. The two days ended on a high note when the campers enjoyed a few delicious slices of pizza.

Overall, Discovery Day fulfilled its goal of spreading STEM to the younger generation within Robbinsville. The competitive challenges between teams, having a chance to drive Kronos, and eating pizza proved to put a big smile on campers faces as they left the high school!

This past Saturday, as Nemesis 2590 stepped foot into the arena of Hatboro Havoc, excitement and anticipation quickly rose within the crowd. This event marked the beginning of the off-season for FIRST Robotics Competition, a memorable one for all.

The opening ceremony of the competition initiated with the Emcee announcing each of the competing teams, and we got to see our opponents up close. The atmosphere was electric, as we saw teams decked out in their team gear, ready to rally behind us. Hatboro Havoc, while smaller in scale to regional competitions, still features a full-fledged tournament environment. Teams are divided into alliances, working together to score points by completing various objectives like shooting game pieces into goals, climbing platforms, and completing autonomous routines.

The crowd, cheering with unbridled joy, intently watched the Nemesis robot Kronos’s every move while the drivers at the station scored points for the Red alliance. However, reality hit hard in the following games against formidable opponents, as they came out swinging. As the pressure mounted, we eventually settled in, and the matches were strategically starting to be played by the drive team. One of the drive team members, Nate Lonarker, claimed “Kronos performed pretty well overall, with no breakdowns or technical difficulties”. The matches were cycled through to the rookie drivers. This allowed the drive team to receive experience in driving Kronos. We allied with teams 407 and 5181 during the final playoffs matches. Overall, Nemesis 2590 made it past the qualification rounds and finished in eighth place overall.

One key aspect that was accomplished this Saturday was introducing rookies to the team dynamics in a competition setting and educating them on what is needed to be accomplished during an event. The rookies were able to learn more and build experience on scouting, which is the process of evaluating the FRC teams at the competition. The rookies were able to gain information on note taking while scouting and efficiently practice it. Even though the process appeared complex to them in the beginning, they eventually were able to pick up on it. Recurring team members also got a chance in practicing scouting teams by taking notes during playoffs, which allowed both to understand and analyze the robots performance up close. 

No robotics competition is without its challenges. Throughout the day, the team faced a few hurdles such as working with the other teams in autonomous tasks and scoring goals. These moments are what FIRST Robotics is all about—learning from setbacks and thinking critically under pressure. The newer members got hands-on experience working alongside seasoned veterans, reinforcing the notion that every member of the team plays an essential role in the day’s success.

The day ended with a sense of accomplishment and excitement for what’s to come. Hatboro Havoc gave Nemesis 2590 the perfect opportunity to kickstart the off-season with confidence. The team now has their sights set on upcoming events, more determined than ever to push the boundaries of their engineering and teamwork. Nemesis 2590 is ready to build on this momentum as they prepare for the next challenge, and continue embodying the spirit of FIRST Robotics. We hope to come back next year to Hatboro Havoc!

Robbinsville High School’s Robotics Team, FRC2590, Nemesis wins their Division at the FIRST Worlds Robotics Competition in Houston, TX
From the 8th seeded alliance in their division, to placing 5th in the WORLD: 
Nemesis’ Cinderella Story

    50,000 spectators, from 58 countries, and over 18,600 students in attendance; Robbinsville High School’s very own FIRST Robotics Competition team, Nemesis, made it to the World Championship in Houston, Texas. FRC2590 was not only the captain of their alliance, but also placed 5th in the world. However, this ‘rags to riches’ story didn’t start on the award winning Einstein field.

   The championship and the events leading up to it are all a part of FIRST, an organization that doesn’t “use kids to build robots, but uses robots to build kids” as founder Dean Kamen explains, perfectly summing up this empowering sport. And even though aluminum, circuits, and wires may be the stars on the field - this isn’t just about robots. How you play is just as important, if not more important than the results of the games. Though, that’s more than enough of a reason to celebrate the students’ hard work over the season!

   A common phrase you’ll hear if you happen to find yourself within a mile radius of an FRC, FTC, or FLL robotics competition is gracious professionalism. Along with the pillars of FIRST; discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun. And Nemesis is no stranger to implementing these core values.

   From the beginning of the 2024 season, the students on Nemesis have been working hard to create a robot worthy of another blue banner. Ascending their way through district events and the regional event, 2590 made it all the way to Texas for Kronos’, our 2024 competition robot, final face offs on the big stage.

   On day one of the competitions, Nemesis began competing in the Curie division qualification matches. Up against over 70 other teams in their division alone, 2590 managed to cap off day one with a record score of 186. At the time it was also the highest qualifying score at Worlds. This landed them in 4th place. On the following day, however, three consecutive tough qualification matches dropped 2590 down to rank 23. This drastically impacted the team’s chances of becoming a top alliance captain - and at worst, not being picked to continue competing in the playoffs at all. But this set back wasn’t going to stop the resilient drive team and pit crew members. In the two final qualification matches, Kronos pulled through and rose through the ranks, pushing Nemesis to their final seed of 11.

   On day three of the competition, the alliance selection begins. The top 8 seeded teams assumed their positions as captains and began picking their first team members. As first picks were made, Nemesis  moved up into the 8th place alliance captain. Our final alliance consisted of team 4476, W.A.F.F.L.E.S based in Ontario, Canada, team 7028, Binary Battalion from Minnesota, and our back up partner team 190, Gompei and the H.E.R.D., coming from Massachusetts.

   The first match of the semi finals was alliance 8 vs alliance 1 - consisting of the #1 and the #3 seeded teams of the Curie division. The chances of Nemesis winning this match were below 39% and in a thrilling first match, alliance 8 caused the first upset of the day and beat alliance 1 and the odds!
The alliance 8 win streak was on a roll from there, successfully beating out alliances 1, 6, 7, and 3 in the semi finals. Only losing a single match in the entire division playoffs to alliance 4. But Nemesis wasn’t satisfied with just the semi finals, they took it to the final matches - a best out of three showdown - against none other than the alliance that previously beat them. 2590 won back to back matches and secured a place in the Einstein competition as the Curie division winners!

   Alliance 8 turned into the Curie Alliance. Nemesis and their partners quickly moved to compete with the other winners of each division. The competition was fierce, but Nemesis secured a winning match on the Einstein field and went out as the 5th place alliance in the entire world. Bringing home a new blue banner to the halls of Robbinsville High School.

   These wins were a feat of amazing maneuvering, offense, and defense of the drivers and the quick work of the pit crew, but the secret behind 2590’s key to advantage lies in the work of the autonomos code and the work of every scout’s data.

   Starting each match, Nemesis could acquire up to 40 plus points in the autonomous period alone, this gave them a head start in nearly every match where their alliance could secure these points. Sometimes those 40 autonomous points would be double what the opposing alliance’s three combined teams could score. This gave the drivers breathing room to work their magic on the field during the teleoperated portion of the game.

   But the true ‘secret sauce’ can be found in the work of every student in a red and white shirt. Throughout the qualifying matches, batches of team members would scout the robots playing. Recording points racked up, shots and misses, positions played, when teams broke down and when they got ranking points. This data is crucial to the work of Nemesis’ strategists, who pulled together the list of the very teams making up their division winning alliance this year. Scouting is an often overlooked aspect of competitions, but a most impactful one by far and every attending team member had a hand in making it work.

    At the culmination of the 2024 World Championships, Nemesis finished 5th in the world. From a small tech lab in Robbinsville, NJ to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX, Nemesis maintained the same core disciplines of passion, hard work and a true love for robotics. It was a wonderful day. 
 

Robbinsville High School’s Robotics Team, FRC2590, Nemesis wins their Division at the FIRST Worlds Robotics Competition in Houston, TX

   The Robbinsville High School’s Robotics Team, FRC2590, Nemesis, qualified for the World Championships in Houston, TX by placing in the top 25 teams in the Mid-Atlantic region.  At Worlds Nemesis, became one of 8 alliance captains on their field of 70 teams, and led their alliance to victory by winning the finals in the Curie Division.  The winning alliance is awarded a blue banner, the most coveted trophy in FIRST robotics.  The winning alliance on each of the 8 divisions goes on to compete on the Einstein field. On the Einstein field, Nemesis ended the competition as the 5th ranked alliance in the World!
 

Nemesis is excited to have completed this year’s annual food drive. Throughout a three week long timespan, we were able to gather 1700 canned food and toiletry items to donate to our local food pantry. The food drive was based out of Sharon Elementary School, where bins were placed at the front entrance for students to donate food items. Fourth graders were especially motivated to donate, since the class with the most items donated would receive a robot demonstration from Nemesis.

As the food drive progressed, Nemesis team members volunteered to transport the food items from the elementary school to Robbinsville High School, where the items would be sorted and stored. At the culmination of the three week period, team members gathered to ready the donations for the pantry. Items were sorted into boxes based on different categories, and team members volunteered to drop the food off at the pantry.

The program continues with a robot demonstration for the fourth grade class that donated the most food.. This initiative showcases the merging of STEM education initiatives and general charity. While the food drive helps to generate valuable resources for those in need, it also helps introduce our community’s youth to STEM and robotics. For many current team members, their first introduction to FIRST was through the fourth grade food drive demo. By continuing our long standing tradition of organizing the food drive, Nemesis is able to inspire the spirit of robotics while also aiding those in need.

   Last weekend, Nemesis had a very noteworthy experience at the regional competition at Montgomery High School. After the competition a couple weekends ago, Nemesis used the 2 week window efficiently. The team worked diligently to improve the robot, Kronos. They continuously worked on scoring in the trap in order to increase their chances of success. As for business, they were prepared to present every aspect of Nemesis to the judges, in order to paint the best possible picture of the team.

   Coming up to the competition, the robot underwent many beneficial changes. The build team made many improvements to Kronos; implementing a four piece auton, testing new hooks, and working on shooter tuning. Because they worked on scoring in the trap prior to the competition, Kronos was one of few robots that was able to score in the trap consistently. This allowed the team to gain many ranking points. Thanks to the drive team, the driving of the robot for each match was strategically executed as well. Due to all these efforts, Nemesis ended up in first place before alliance selection. Sadly, the team lost during the alliance matches, but had a great game overall.  

   The business team had a great experience as well. They gave an in-depth pit presentation for the judges that truly showcased Nemesis’s best qualities. The group had the opportunity to discuss their financial objectives, future plans for the team, and sustainability implementations. The team also spoke about their multitude of community outreach initiatives, such as their involvement with the Trenton Urban Promise, Sponsor Night, Engineering and Discovery Day, and multiple instances of global outreach. The judges loved to hear about the team’s lego recycling drive, in which they had collected over 100 pounds of legos to donate. Along with this, buttons were distributed to other teams, and the team displayed gracious professionalism throughout the competition.

   By the end of the 2nd competition day, both business and build teams had made a profound effort to make an impact for the team, and the final awards were being announced. The team waited in suspense while listening intently for each award being given, the bleachers filled with a sea of Nemesis red. When the team heard their name being announced for the Quality Award, they rejoiced, cheering loudly as they ran down the stands to take their picture. This was the moment they had been hoping for, and they couldn’t be more proud. After countless meetings, the effort of the team, and so much time spent, our hard work had paid off. Nemesis could not be happier for this accomplishment, and we are extremely grateful for it. We are beyond excited to see what the experience at MAR holds for us.

Hatboro Horsham High School hosted the start of an exciting competition season for Nemesis, with wins from an outstanding performance by Kronos, the 2024 robot of Nemesis, and winning the Impact award, the most prestigious in all of FIRST. At the start of the 3 day competition, the drive team along with the pit crew set up the robot and the pits, getting the team ready to succeed. Businesses continued to prepare for Impact through their focused practice sessions and a review of the outreach and sustainability practices Nemesis follows.

An early start to the competition led to great excitement, and as soon as the practice matches started, the entire team rose to their feet, watching our robot in action for the first time. By noon, Nemesis started their first match, and the team was hyped. The chanting was so loud that the entire arena could hear it, including the drive team at the field. In the end, the first match was a tough loss for the team by one point, but a great start to the whole competition. Our pit crew was easily able to repair the robot in no time and even went out of our way to help other teams in need. Quickly moving to the second match, Nemesis had a huge win over the blue alliance, which was the first of many. After an enjoyable lunch break where team members chatted with other teams, Nemesis got excited for their third match, which was another success. By the end of the day Nemesis was in a great spot, ranked 2nd out of 33 teams and 8 wins for 9 matches. Day one was a win for the team and raised spirits for day two.

Business kicked off the day by presenting Impact to the judges, which informs them on the outreach initiatives Nemesis and the overall impact of the team locally and globally. Three members worked hard with countless hours of practice to present. With hours and hours of preparation, they delivered their engaging presentation. The rest of the business team worked on cheering the drive team and presenting to judges in the pits about team sustainability. While in the pits, the business team answered questions about our team finances, outreach, and sustainability to the judges On day 2 of the competition, Nemesis faced a few technical issues with the robot in our first match falling to 6th place, but it set a path for a great alliance. With a productive strategy meeting the night before, the strategy team was prepared with options for alliance selection. Nemesis was selected by team 1403, along with being partnered with team 6808. The alliance quickly moved through the ranks, progressing to the Semifinals. Unfortunately, Nemesis lost in the semi-finals but had an amazing run throughout the whole competition. 

By the end of the competition, it was time for awards. In the end, Nemesis won the Impact award and we were happy to win the award. Coming home with the Impact award, a blue banner, and a great performance by the robot, Nemesis considers Hatboro a successful competition.

On the morning of February 24th, Nemesis team members demonstrated a prototype robot to young children at the Robbinsville local library. Kids of varying ages were able to witness the intriguing elements of the robot, such as its swerve modules and their swiveling movements.

Team members from the build and business subteams gave a presentation to the kids and their parents about the First Robotics Competition. In this informative talk, they learned what FIRST is, what last year's challenge was, and Nemesis’ accomplishments this past season. They were also introduced to First Lego League (FLL), alongside highlights of the recent FLL competition, Robbinsville Ruckus, which took place at our high school. The students were also given a demonstration by IDK, an FLL team. They showed off their robot, explaining the basics of Lego robotics and how their robot functioned.

After the FLL demonstration, the kids were able to gain an understanding of the Nemesis prototype robot. They were given a presentation on how the swerve drivetrain moved, and were given a high level overview of the programming behind the swerve modules. This  intrigued the minds of these young students. After an introduction to the prototyping process, the students were incredibly curious and they asked questions, such as; “How was this robot able to move in all directions?”, and “Why doesn’t the robot turn like a car?”. Nemesis team members quickly answered the curious students with robotics knowledge, increasing their Robotics skills.

After this, the students were able to drive the robot and learned about how the control panel functioned. The students played around with the robot, which was capable of moving in all directions. Students also played ‘Simon Says’ against the robot, and were amazed by the robot’s quickness and its functionality. After the end of the games, the students went home excited, having learned about FLL and were ready to participate in future FIRST events.

On Wednesday, February 21st, Nemesis hosted our annual Sponsor Night! This event is a long standing Nemesis tradition, and the 2024’s iteration was as successful as ever! Each year, we invite representatives from our current and prospective sponsors, as well as parents of team members, to Robbinsville High School. Those who attend Sponsor Night are able to learn about our team, season, robot, and outreach initiatives. This helps strengthen our relationship with our sponsors, in which they provide us with valuable financial aid, and we provide them with information about our team’s recent activities.

This year, we had three stations at Sponsor Night. One of these stations was a robot demonstration. Nemesis team members showcased our 2024 competition robot, named “Kronos”. The robot brandished its swerve-drive capabilities, as well as its intake and shooter. Sponsors and parents were amazed by Kronos’ driving speed and shooting accuracy, and this served as a great transition into the next event planned for the night.

Our next station was a build team presentation. As a part of this, Nemesis’ design lead and strategy lead spoke about Jynx, our 2023 competition robot. They gave a high-level overview of Jynx and its subsystems, giving sponsors and parents further insight into Nemesis. The presentation also included our strategy for tackling the build season, with the goal of clarifying the process of building a robot from scratch. 

Our final station was a business team presentation. Differing from the previous stations, this presentation was centered around some of the less technical aspects of our team. First, information about FRC and Nemesis’ season was covered. We explained the 2024 game, Crescendo, as well as the competition structure of FRC. Next, we went over our recent community outreach initiatives, including Trenton Urban Promise, Discovery Day and Engineering Day, Robotics Funding Bill, Library Demo, and Robbinsville FLL events.

Overall, Sponsor Night was an exciting, informative, and  a fulfilling experience for sponsors, parents, and team members. As we proudly showcased our team and our activities, we looked forward to continuing the tradition next year!
 

During the last week of the 2024 build season, Nemesis has been working hard to get our robot ready for competitions and upcoming events. This week, the build team finalized the intake and has been fabricating more pieces for the robot. Additionally, the Electrical subteam has wired the belly pan and put a diverter on the robot, while the Software team continued making progress coding different elements, such as the intake. 

On the business side, we participated in Robbinsville High School’s annual 8th grade academic planning night. We showcased our previous competition robots and answered various questions from parents and incoming freshmen, allowing them to learn more about our team and gain interest in joining us next year. We have also continued preparing for Sponsor Night, including our presentation for potential and existing sponsors, which highlights our achievements throughout the years. Specifically, the media subteam has been taking action shots, utilized photoshop to create covers and flyers, and updated Nemesis’ social media and website. Community Outreach continued working on the impact presentation and is planning for future events.This includes our partnership with local organizations to spread STEM throughout our community. Logistics worked on our travel team presentation and planning for upcoming competitions, and Finance has been working on more grants. The team has also been making more buttons to provide to other teams during competitions. 

Overall, this week was extremely productive for Nemesis as we were able to accomplish various tasks relating to our robot’s completion and outreach events. We are looking forward to a competitive and successful competition season ahead!

The second to last week of the Build Season has come to a close, and excitement for competitions is at an all-time high. The team has been tirelessly working to ensure that we are ready for our first district competition. 

In the past week, the business team has become one step closer to finalizing the community outreach initiatives and sponsor night preparations. The media team worked to finalize the sponsor banner, made more buttons, and worked on the business plan, all which will be showcased during our annual sponsor night. Alongside this, our logistics team worked on organizing our weekly meetings and planning our meals for the weekend. Meanwhile, the finance team was busy finalizing the business plan, working on the sponsor night presentation, working on the library demo, and working on our executive summary and press packet. Our community outreach team, alongside the finance team, worked on organizing the library demo and planning and executing our FLL interest meeting event. 

The build team spent hours in the lab prototyping and working to perfect the robot. The software team worked on coding the subsystems for the prototypes that build managed to put together. The scouting team worked on managing and expanding the scouting software for our upcoming competitions. The fabrication team worked extremely hard and efficiently to finish cutting most of the pieces for the robot, such as the climbing rails which will allow the robot to pull itself up on the chain at the end of the game. The electrical team worked to finalize the layout of the robot and mounted the electrical components. Alongside this, the electric team also successfully completed the installation of the swerve drive. The design team finally worked on finishing all of the designs that will be implemented on the robot and started to prototype backup ideas.

We are excited to see what we have in store for the next week of build season, upcoming events, and eventually competition season!