2025 Week 6: Team Journal

  While wrapping up the 2025 build season's final week, Nemesis 2590 has put in long hours to prepare our robot for competitions and events. Sponsor Night is near at hand, along with district-level events, prompting all subteams to make fast progress in closing out their projects and getting geared up for what promises to be a great year.

  The build team has worked tirelessly to assemble large components of the robot. Fabrication has focused on cutting out essential pieces, including ones needed for the elevator carriage, 3D-printed elevator system gears, and arm mechanism shafts and plates. By using the router and lathe, they ensured that every component is crafted to precision. Meanwhile,  the design team has been preparing robot parts,  and pulley/gear system. Optimization of the arm mechanism, camera mounts, and elevator system has also been carried out to ready the robot for competition. The electrical team has been wiring the robot and finalizing the competition bot layout, carefully routing and securing each and every last connection.

   As the robot takes shape, the software team has been hard at work programming the swerve drive for the competition robot, adjusting camera dimensions, and designing a controller application for the driver. They have also been fine-tuning the subsystems and designing a scouting app to help with strategic planning in competitions. All parts of the robot are being tested and adjusted to ensure perfect performance on the field.

   While the build season charges forward, the business end of things has also been busy arranging outreach events and logistics for the competition season. Last week, Nemesis participated in Robbinsville High School's 8th Grade Academic Planning Night, during which the team showcased the past competition robot, Kronos,  and spoke to parents and students, promoting FIRST Robotics and encouraging incoming freshmen to join the team. On top of that, outreach continued with ongoing partnerships, including Trenton Urban Promise, with the team focusing on offering STEM resources to underprivileged communities. In this ongoing collaboration with Trenton Urban Promise, Nemesis was able to spread STEM to children through fun activities including building paper rockets! Another highlight of the week was the Nemesis Navigator, a collaborative project of the Media and Outreach groups to write pieces and postings on the progress of the team.

   With Sponsor Night approaching, every aspect of the business team has been in high gear. The media team has been designing promotional materials, including a cover for the business plan, writing articles, and creating social media posts to highlight the team's work. Logistics has been coordinating competition preparation and readying all materials for the event. In the meantime, the finance team has been finalizing financial reports, including cash flow analysis from last season, preparing the executive summary, and making final adjustments to this year’s business plan. They have also been completing information packets to showcase the impact of sponsorships and secure continued support.

   With the final week of build season coming to an end, Nemesis 2590 has been operating in full gear, making essential progress on the technical and business fronts. The dedication and collaboration of all the subteams have been phenomenal, and as the team waits for competition season, the excitement is undeniable. With the robot nearing completion, well-organized outreach efforts, and a strong business plan at hand, Nemesis is ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow and leave a lasting imprint on and off the playing field.