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The speedy robot streaked across the field as it strategically placed power cubes onto the switch and the scale. The bell rang: time for the teleoperated period. The crowd cheered as the robot gained ownership of all three devices. The bell rang once more: endgame. The robot grew taller until it latched on to the metal rod. It let down its wings, allowing the other two robots to climb with it. Will they make it in time? The three robots climbed into the air with seconds to spare. The crowd went wild!

Easter weekend, Robbinsville High School's FIRST Robotics Team 2590, Nemesis, attended the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Hatboro-Horsham District Event. After a great win at the Hudson Valley Regional under their belts, Nemesis craved another victory. On Friday March 30th, Nemesis, along with 32 other FIRST Mid-Atlantic teams began the 64 qualification matches.

Behind the scenes members of the Marketing and Build Teams spoke with judges competing for business and technical awards. Alum Jenna Mollica visited the pits, reminiscing about her time on Nemesis.

Undefeated, Nemesis flew through qualification matches and earned the first ranked seed position. Nemesis invited the second ranked seed, FRC 25, Raider Robotix from North Brunswick NJ and FRC 6226, the Blue Devils from Burlington NJ, to join their alliance.

The Nemesis led alliance remained undefeated through quarter and semi finals. Final 1 commenced with the alliance gaining control of both switches and the scale. Throughout the match, the scale and switches continued to alternate between alliances. Finally, after the incredibly close match, the Nemesis and their alliance partners came out on top with a score of 259 to 244.

As Nemesis and their alliance prepared for the next match, the crowd waited in anticipation. “And the winner of Final 2 is… the Blue Alliance!” The Master of Ceremonies announced. Nemesis’ crowd of red sighed in disappointment. “One more match!” The drive team chanted, raising the crowd’s spirit. “3, 2, 1. Power Up!” Nemesis’ robot, Fury, raced across the field as the alliance gained control of our switch and the scale. As endgame began, Fury let down its award winning wings as FRC 6226 drove on. Earning 60 points for the red alliance, Fury climbed the scale and beat the boss! The crowd roared, and Nemesis took home their second blue banner of the season.

The ending of the event left everyone on the edge of their seats. Freshman build member, Kavya Velliangiri said, “The final nerve wracking feeling as the end result screen was displayed was something I won’t ever forget.”

The excitement didn’t conclude with the matches. Nemesis was presented with the Industrial Design Award, which celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively addresses the game challenge. The team hopes to keep the momentum of their season going as they compete at the FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship!

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Nemesis Beats the Boss at Hudson Valley

The crowd watched anxiously as the final scores appeared on the screen. “And defeating the boss… is the red alliance!” That was it. 18-0-0. After 18 dramatic and exhilarating matches, Robbinsville High School FIRST Robotics Team FRC 2590, Nemesis, along with alliance partners FRC 1796, RoboTigers from Long Island City, and the FRC 6401, Clarkstown North 8-Bit Rams from New City, NY left the Hudson Valley Regional victorious. Cheers of elation coursed through the Rockland Community College fieldhouse during the weekend of March 23rd - March 25th. The victory at the regional event qualified the winning alliance to compete at FIRST Championship in Detroit this April.

Nemesis joined 39 other teams at the regional event in Suffern, NY which including teams from Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Paraguay. After finishing the Bridgewater-Raritan District Event as finalists, Nemesis was back and hungry for success.

It took a full team effort to win the event, from the drive team’s (Jared Miller, Dahany Choi, Alex Keller, and Mariko McMurtry) performance under pressure, to the pit crew (Matthew Began, Richa Mandrekar, Nolan Quon, and Rahul Sawant) who speedily repaired the robot after each match, and the scouts (led by Chinmay Savanur, Harsh Padhye, and Bhargavi Lanka) who charted every robot’s performance and worked around the clock to determine which robots would join Nemesis’ alliance.

By the end of all 80 qualification matches, Nemesis sat in first place with an average of 3.33 out of 4 ranking points per match. Meanwhile, in the pits, Nemesis’ marketing team (Jarelle Boac, Likhitha Patlolla, Ethan Silberberg, Julia Ruch, Nick Anderson, Josh Lichtenstein, and Rebekah Rahman) impressed the judges with their world-class business plan and presentation skills.

During alliance selection, Nemesis chose FRC 1796, the RoboTigers, and FRC 6401, the Clarkstown North 8-Bit Rams, to join them in battling the boss. The crowd cheered in either triumph or agony for their robot to make it to the next round. As one side of the scale lowered, one side of the gym erupted, and when an opposing robot countered, the other side of the fieldhouse equaled their excitement. The energy in the room continued throughout 13 electric quarterfinal and semifinal matches.

During the first finals match, Nemesis and the red alliance put forth a dominant performance. They controlled the scale throughout the match, placed 6 cubes into the vault and received 65 points for their endgame climb, adding up to a 435 - 232 win. The red alliance once again kept strong control of both the switch and the scale during the second finals match. The red alliance achieved all 90 endgame points, paving the way for a 413-322 win and an undefeated Hudson Valley regional victory.

Not only did Nemesis walk away from Suffern, NY as victors with a secured ticket to FIRST Championship, but they also won the Excellence in Engineering award, which recognizes a unique and exemplary feat of engineering, impressing the judges with distinct robot-carrying wings, efficient intake, and a dual elevator.

After their success at the Hudson Valley Regional event, Nemesis hopes to continue improving at their next events, the Hatboro-Horsham District Event, and FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship.

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2018 WEEK 5: BUILD JOURNAL

With the Build Season beginning the home stretch, Nemesis has begun polishing our beloved robot. With the practice robot completed, the Software Team was given the chance to experiment with the field layout and begin testing all of the possible autonomous programs.

The last touches were put on our climber; we had tried multiple designs during earlier prototyping, and finally stuck with one we thought would optimize our value to any alliance.

We are happy with the efficiency of our intake. Inspired by the 2015 Symbotics intake, we created a wheel-based intake, with appropriate articulation points, which make it easier to grab the power cubes from any angle and at any placement. Reversing the wheels allows us to shoot the power cubes small distances. With the intake comes the elevator. We mated our intake design with our elevator and have been refining the software for elevator speed control.

As the season progresses, we plan on embellishing and securing the robot with bumpers and testing it on the field in both autonomous and teleoperated periods. Overall, we can’t wait for Competition Season and are extremely excited for the final robot to come together!

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Networking with Nemesis

What do the words robotics, high-school, and S.T.E.A.M. all have in common? Business and marketing. To suggest such a similarity might leave one asking questions. Nemesis’ 6th annual Sponsor Networking Night provided the answers.

What do high-school students who dedicate their social lives to the development of science and technology gain from a night spent greeting people, giving presentations, and answering questions? The answer is everything. As a Robotics team that also doubles as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Nemesis relies almost entirely on donations from sponsors to support the team and its mission. Sponsor Networking Night provides the proof that these contributions are impactful; the evening is critical for the strong, symbiotic relationships Nemesis maintains with their sponsors.

The night began as Nemesis was reminded of the impact they create in their community. Mayor Dave Fried proposed an enticing offer for Nemesis to work with the township on the development of “The Leafy Green Machine”, a hydroponics farm aimed at helping Robbinsville develop agricultural self-sustainability. As the attendees arrived, they were split into groups for three equally impressive performances. Following a tour of the Robbinsville High School Tech Lab, build executives Mariko McMurtry and Dahany Choi gave a detailed briefing of this year’s FIRST Game Challenge. Audience members gained acute insight into the process Nemesis employed to build their 2018 robot, and had all their technical questions answered.

Across the hall, in the Student Activity Center, Marketing Executives Nick Anderson and Likhitha Patlolla, alongside Chief Financial Officer Jarelle Boac, presented “Our Year In Review”, a recap of the highly successful Nemesis 2016-2017 season. If there was any reason to doubt Nemesis’ impact, it was put to rest, as these three seasoned presenters delved into the notable achievements of Nemesis; their victory at the Indiana Robotics Invitational, aid in the founding of Robbinsville’s FIRST Technical Challenge team, Nemesis Prime 14020, and alumna Jolia Thadal’s S.T.E.A.M. outreach program in Haiti.

Finally, sponsors could find themselves in the midst of robotics action as they witnessed Nemesis’ 2017 award winning robot, Eris, in action. Some sponsors had the opportunity to drive the robot. Along with Eris, the walking, talking, dancing and golf-playing, humanoid Nao robot showed off its impressive skills. With all of these activities, light refreshments, and plenty of conversation, Nemesis could call the 2018 Sponsor Networking Night a success.

Nemesis would like to give a special thanks to: Robbinsville High School, NAVAIR, DoDSTEM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label Incorporated, Picatinny STEM, Lockheed Martin, Robbinsville Education Association, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Investors Bank, Robbinsville Education Foundation Incorporated, Sharbell Development Corporation, CCC, Skylink Technology Incorporation, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, Gilbane Building Company, Triangle Copy, Coldwell Banker, DesignTree, as well as all the family, friends and past sponsors of Nemesis 2590.

2018 Week 2: Marketing Journal

During Week Two of the 2018 Build Season, the Marketing Team worked on its preparation for Sponsor Networking Night. Invitations have been hand delivered to local sponsors, and collateral assembly has begun. Graphics for the showcases located just outside of our Tech Lab have been created, updated, and printed.

The Finance Team is hard at work on the 2018 Business Plan, applying for grants, and meeting with current sponsors. The Logistics Team has been in constant contact with transportation companies regarding the travel plans for the upcoming competition season. FIRST Power Up will be a very exciting game, and our Logistics Team is ensuring that we will be ready for the competitions in the upcoming months.

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2018 Week 1: Build Journal

Another build season has finally arrived! After attending kickoff, Nemesis headed back to the RHS Tech Lab to discuss game analysis. We became familiar with the game field and rules for FIRST POWER UP. Both build and marketing students were able to participate in brainstorming, coming up with different ideas for all the subsystems. We focused on the ability to place power cubes on both the switch and the scale, which would be strategically beneficial. We also focused discussion on climbing. After hours of discussion we split into smaller groups to begin prototyping. The upperclassmen guided the underclassmen, turning sketches and ideas into working designs. Subteams worked on creating elevators to be able to reach the scale, fabricating a climber, and constructing multiple intake systems. This allowed all of the underclassmen to work hands-on with a variety of tools on their prototypes.

For our climber, we want a durable locking system to prevent us from falling. Subteams created a hook to grab onto the rung using pneumatics in ways that would be strong enough to support our robot. Although it isn’t as strong as we wished, we are still refining it in hopes to reach our goal.

The intake subteams have combined prototypes for the most efficient design. Using a combination of wheels and bands, we are able to pick up the power cube and securely hold it as the elevator rises, either to place the cube on the switch or the scale.

The elevator subteam has constructed two designs; a cascading and a scissor elevator. When tested to see which one is more effective, the cascading elevator proved to be the winner.

We decided on a 6 wheel west coast drive train with no drop center. The front and back will be curved up to allow out robot to drive onto the platform. In the upcoming week we will continue to improve and finalize these prototypes. We are all excited to see everything come together.