Nemesis Blasts off at the Central New York Regional!

It was a frigid, winter day in Utica, New York as robotics teams from around the world shook the stands of SUNY Polytechnic Institute for the Central New York Regional Competition from March 13 - March 16, 2019. The crowd watched anxiously as they waited to see which alliance’s rocket would be the first to soar skyward. “And the winner of this match is…. the blue alliance!” The crowd jumped with excitement. Nemesis 2590, along with alliance partners Team 4083, The Iron Wolverines , Team 3044, 0xBE4, and Team 639, Code Red Robotics, advanced to the semi-finals after beating their opponents with a score of 52-38! After a weekend full of tense matches, optimism and excitement exploded throughout our team making us believe that we will make it to the finals!

Nemesis was hungry for a win following their semi-finalist finish at Mount Olive High School. The Drive Team (seniors Rahul Sawant, Alex Keller, Richa Mandrekar, and Harsh Padhye, along with junior Gurveer Grewal) battled tirelessly through every match to secure the maximum amount of points. The pit crew (Nolan Quon, Peter Mathews, Connie Mehl, and Mathew Joseph) worked after every match to run system checks and reamp the robot to increase Nemesis’ competitiveness. The Strategy Team leads (Chinmay Savanur and Bhargavi Lanka) analyzed every robots’ performance to determine which team would provide us with the best chance for success.

Throughout the qualifying matches, Nemesis started small, testing strategies and implementing new subsystems. After every match, the pit crew determined what to improve for future matches. Concurrently, the Marketing Team’s amazing presentation along with their stellar business plan wowed the judges, resulting in a Nemesis win of the Central New York Regional Entrepreneurship Award. This took a full team effort from the Marketing Team who presented the team’s operations and outreach efforts to judges. When asked about winning the award Likhitha Patlolla, the Director of Marketing, commented, “It was incredibly gratifying to see our hard work recognized with the Entrepreneurship Award!”

During alliance selections, Nemesis, the 6th seeded alliance captain, chose Team 0xBE4, and Code Red Robotics to join them for the elimination rounds. Nemesis scored a great amount of points during the quarter-final rounds, getting their robot to the second level of the Hab Station. With around twenty seconds left of the match, OxBE4 raised their rocket on to the third level, giving the alliance enough points to move to the semi-final rounds. The semi-finals proved to be a tough challenge to overcome for Nemesis. Unfortunately, the alliance lost its partner, Code Red Robotics, due to a malfunction. To combat that, a substitute, The Iron Wolverines, joined the alliance playing a critical role defensively. Despite the valiant efforts of Nemesis and the rest of the alliance, the opposing team took the victory.

Nemesis left the competition more determined than ever to continue improving for their upcoming competitions, the Bensalem District Event and hopefully the Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition.

Nemesis would like to thank our gracious sponsors: Robbinsville High School, Navair, DoDStem, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, Picatinny Arsenal, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Lockheed Martin, Robbinsville Education Association, Investors Bank, SkyLink Technologies, CCC, Sharbell Development, RAS, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, Triangle Copy, DesignTree, and Coldwell Bankers.