Another Successful Discovery Day with Nemesis
The sound of jousting robots colliding and battle cries filled the halls of Robbinsville High School on November 23rd and 24th. These half-day events called Discovery Day are annually hosted by two robotics’ teams, Nemesis; Robbinsville’s FIRST robotics team and Nemesis Prime; Robbinsville’s FTC team. The goal of this event is to foster interest in STEM and provide elementary and middle school aged campers with exhilarating experiences centered around Legos to encourage them to keep building.
This year’s challenge for Discovery Day dated back to the Middle Ages as the 64 campers were tasked with building a robot that could joust. In order to moderate difficulty, second through fourth grade students experimented with RCX motors while fourth to sixth graders worked with the more challenging NXT Mindstorms. This required them to code a program from scratch. The winners of this challenge were determined by which jousting robot remained undefeated. Campers could also earn “extra credit” if they could build a lance that was capable of lowering itself.
Split into groups of two or three, campers were paired with high school mentors who were impressed after hearing the unique ideas each camper had for building their robot. When third grader Gabby suggested placing the lance at an angle so that their robot could be “stronger,” Anushka, a sophomore on the build team, was left in awe; this was an idea that hadn’t even crossed her mind. When it was put to the test, the idea proved to be successful. Although their robot didn’t seem too stable to begin with, it demolished several competitors. Additionally, the young campers also exhibited an inspiring amount of perseverance. Instead of getting frustrated when their robot lost a challenge or when the code for the NXT robots didn’t work as intended, they simply laughed it off and agreed to try something else. In fact, second grade Anoushka happily claimed that her favorite part of Discovery Day was breaking the robot.
Aside from testing gears and different Lego designs, campers also improved their teamwork skills. Paired with two boys who barely knew each other, Ritika Bhatnagar, a sophomore, noted, “By the end of Discovery Day, Arin and Lucas became fast friends. It was hard getting them to talk to each other and cooperate in the beginning, but competition is an incredible motivator and aided them in opening up to each other.”
However, there is a lot more to Discovery Day than jousting robots, campers are also encouraged to participate in engaging activities such as driving Gaia (Nemesis 2590’s competition robot) as well as FTC’s robot. These opportunities also sparked interest in STEM by demonstrating the different ways to work with competition robots.
Overall, this year’s Discovery Day had a definite impact on both the campers and their high school mentors. Guaranteed with a 100% return rate, Nemesis 2590 and Nemesis Prime look forward to hosting this event again next year and help campers accomplish other missions that lie ahead.
Nemesis would like to extend a special thanks to its sponsors: Navair, Robbinsville High School, Picatinny Arsenal, Lockheed Martin, DoDStem, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, Investors Foundation, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Robbinsville Education Association, Sharbell Development, RAS, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, EAG Laboratories, DesignTree, CCC, Gilbane, Triangle Copy, SkyLink Technology, Inc., Coldwell Banker, and the family and friends of Nemesis.
