2013 World Championships

With scant minutes between matches, time was of the essence and the alliance partners thought, "Is Nemesis in the game or dead in the water?"  It was the quarterfinals of the Archimedes division of the World Championship when the floor intake of  Nemesis’ Frisbee throwing robot, Athena, died. Switching quickly to defense, the top offensive robot finished the match.  With an adrenalin rush, Jenna Mollica and Julia Borowski raced for the Pit to retrieve the spare Frisbee intake subsystem.  With a gasp of disbelief and impending doom, their teammates, parents, and mentors were on the edge of their seats watching the intense activity below on the field.  The alliance had to decide whether to forsake Nemesis and pick a substitute alliance partner or stay with them, gambling on a working robot for the next match. 

With sure and practiced hands, Jenna, Julia, Josh Falk, Arnav Vast, and mentor Scott Meredith ripped off the bent system and replaced it with the spare in two minutes.  Dan Gavrushenko working in parallel started repairing the original intake roller.  Applause erupted from the other teams in admiration when the Pit Crew, working like a well oiled machine, smiled in satisfaction as the new intake system roared to life.  There was no doubt in anyone’s mind, who built this award winning robot.  On time and competition ready, Nemesis queued to enter the field with their alliance for the next match. 

A seven disc shooter is de rigueur for alliances to gain the momentum needed to win the 2013 Ultimate Ascent game. After winning the Hatboro-Horsham District and Mid-Atlantic Region Championship, this young team competed in one of the top divisions, Archimedes, where high scores were in the 260s.  One of the major reasons for their success is the 7 disc autonomous routine written by Antonio Papa, Lead Programmer, which scores 42 points in the first fifteen seconds of the match.   Under program control, the camera senses the top target, automatically aims and rapidly shoots 3 discs for 18 points then drives forward over 4 addition discs.   Switching to reverse, Nemesis drops the Frisbee intake system and sweeps up the 4 discs then returns to the original shooting position, where it senses the top target and shoots the 4 discs for an additional 24 points.  Cheers erupt as they deliver up to 42 points at the start of each match before the Drive team takes over for the teleop phase of the game. 

With two speeds, low gear with the torque to push most robots and a nimble and fast high gear, Driver Josh Falk takes charge and consistently scores 12 points per round trip cycle as the robot gathers 4 discs, returns to the home pyramid and shoots all 4 discs into the target.  Deftly moving and dodging the defense robots, Nemesis is able to scoop discs from anywhere on the playing field.  Josh’s strategy is to score as many points as possible and not be deflected into a push and shove contest.  But the power is there when needed and Nemesis can bully it’s way with the best of them. 

Finishing the season as the 12th ranked robot in the public poll of mentors, team members and alumni, the team is very happy with their 2013 season results.