The FRC 2023 season has officially begun, and Nemesis has been busier than ever in the first week! The business team has been preparing for the annual Nemesis sponsor night by updating information and planning presentations to keep our sponsors informed. We have also been preparing and sending invites for this event. We are very excited to meet our sponsors and present all of our hard work so far.

    In addition, our team, sponsor, and outreach showcases are being updated with new photos and awards from our last 2022 season. Our new members are hard at work ensuring that these showcases are kept updated. 

    As a team, we are preparing workshops for First Lego League teams made up of elementary and middle school students. These workshops include a variety of activities designed to keep students engaged and excited about STEM. We are also getting ready for our State of the Schools event, a club fair where parents can see the accomplishments of our team; this keeps us connected to our community. In addition, our Chairman’s team is diligently working on their Impact Award presentation, putting in their best effort to win this prestigious award. We are also busy creating buttons with our logo and a 2023 game-specific design to pass out to other teams during competitions.

    Our logistics team has been finding restaurants for the FMA District Championship and are making sure that meals are being provided for our team during meetings. Our media team is currently in the process of using Photoshop to design labels for our showcases as well as updating the website with information and photos of newer members. Our finance team is looking and applying for sponsor grants, creating our business plan, and reconciling the bank account. Finally, we have been preparing for our robot demonstration in the local library as well as setting up an outreach event in collaboration with the Trenton Urban Promise organization. Overall, it has been a successful start for the business team in the 2023 season!

After the Covid-19 pandemic, Robbinsville High School is back to hosting the Nemesis classic, Discovery day. On the fifteenth and sixteenth of October, Nemesis hosted two , discovery day camps, managing to reach over One-Hundred students. Every year, the Nemesis FRC team hosts an event, open to elementary and middle school students, where the campers work with current team members to give them a fun and enjoyable introduction to STEM. The program has them complete a plethora of age-appropriate STEM challenges, meant to offer a stimulating, but fun, experience for the students.

This year, there were two challenges, each targeted at one of the two different participating age groups in the event. For the younger students (second through fourth grade), the challenge was to make a robot that could kick a ball and a goalie to stop the ball from reaching the edge of the table using Lego Technic and RCX motors. The older students, from fifth to sixth grade, were challenged to use similar NXT and Lego Technic pieces to create a robot that would “bowl” a wiffle ball into  a set of concentrated pins.Once they successfully completed this, they were challenged to code the robot using NXT software to bowl the wiffle ball with just the press of a button.

The campers were split into groups of 2-3 students, and were mentored by current members of the FRC team. The student-mentors assisted the campers in creating the best robots possible, while still understanding the science behind the challenge, and allowing the campers to maintain creative control. . Elan Ronen, a junior on the Software Team, mentored three young students. Elan admired his students’ ingenuity. “Their communication and perseverance struck me the most. They were experimenting with the robot design in the beginning, but after extensive amounts of collaborative brainstorming, they were able to come up with a design. The issue was that their design kept on breaking -- still, after many trials, these students were able to utilize the engineering design process to create a great design.” Elan, and many other student-mentors, found that recovering from adversity is what helped these students grow the most; “Whether it be through the build or code, the students never gave up.” Robert Gao, Design Lead, stated, “As time went on, they really got better at cooperating and problem solving together and I sort-of…just…got to sit back and watch. It was really cool.”

The young students were also given other opportunities to explore robotics. The campers  got a chance to look at a robot built by the local FLL team “IDK”. The campers also got a chance to drive Iris, Nemesis’ robot from the 2022 season. Students were amazed by Iris’ smooth movement, and complex design. The robot driving was a student favorite, with almost half of the campers doing the activity twice!

This discovery day played a significant role in introducing young students to robotics and STEM. It was great to see all the students leave with a smile on their faces, and a newfound love of robotics and STEM.

Another year, another Brunswick Eruption! That’s the off-season competition hosted by North Brunswick High School, this year on November 12th, 2022. This year, 51 team members were able to come, which was very good attendance! We had a lot of amazing experiences as well as some great takeaways, and plan to use them for future seasons! 

Before our first match, we learned that there wouldn’t be any warm-up matches since teams needed extra time for calibration. This meant that our robot, Iris, and our drivers wouldn’t be properly warmed up for the competition, and we wouldn’t know how Iris would behave during the actual qualification matches. We also had a few issues concerning the robot, such as Iris’s limelight mount being broken or the ball intake being jammed, which definitely proved to be problematic during the qualification matches. Nemesis's first match was the 2nd qualification match of the competition, but unfortunately, Iris wasn’t performing well, and we didn’t make most of our shots.In our 3rd match, however, things started to look up for Iris and the team. We made some good shots into the hoop, and rarely missed shots during that match. Even though our alliance lost that qualification match, we proved that we were able to stay in the game. During our 4th match, we got a few shots in and were able to go on the middle rung during the endgame. Nemesis ended the qualification matches with a rank of 8th place (out of 35).

After the qualification matches, it was time for the alliance selections! Nemesis chose teams 1155 (SciBorgs), 102, and 2601 (Steel Hawks), based on our scouting, which is when team members take notes on other teams’ robots’ performance, and everyone did a great job with that, even the inexperienced rookies.

Finally, it was time for the much-anticipated quarterfinals! Our alliance, the blue alliance, was facing off against the red alliance, which was made up of teams 3142 (Aperture), 5895 (Peddie Robotics), and 533 (The PSIotics). We made shots one after another, trying our hardest to recover from our rough start, but in the end, we lost to the red alliance 2-1 in the best of 3 rounds.

After many tough and challenging matches, Nemesis persevered through them all. With the help of our fellow alliance members, we were able to beat teams left and right, all so that we could take a shot at the quarter-finals with the help of our alliance members. Nemesis was very proud and grateful to have made it to the quarter-finals, and we know that we will improve and do better in the next competition!

With the sound of robots beeping and buzzers sounding, Hatboro Havoc was a great way to revive the enthusiasm throughout the entire team for a new year of FIRST robotics competition. The competition made for an incredibly eventful weekend filled with excitement and energy amongst the entire field of teams. Hatboro Havoc was an outstanding event for the entire team and served as an excellent opportunity for Nemesis to bring out an all new drive team. 

The day began with Nemesis’ robot, Iris, participating in the first match of the competition. Our brand new drive team stepped into the drivers station to take on the challenge. Our robot was firing on all cylinders, and our drivers, Aryan Gaur and Leo Daniels were flawless in aiming the cargo into the hub and attempting the climb. During this match, our alliance was able to win by 18 points! Iris’ first game was a great way for the team to start the day.

Our robot appeared next in the sixth qualification match. As the buzzer sounded, and the match began, Iris started to prolifically shoot cargo into the hub. As the match progressed, Iris entered the hangar area with 20 seconds remaining. On Iris's way to the high rung, the robot experienced an issue with an arm, and ended up sideways on the ground. With the climber separated from our robot on the ground, our team was in shock. Despite the rush of nervousness throughout the team, as the drive team worked to get our robot back to top shape, Iris was fully repaired before the beginning of the team's next match. Once the match finished, our alliance was able to escape with and win, with the thinnest of margins, the final score being 91-89. By qualification match 9, Iris was back on the field. For the first time since Iris’ original incident, the team was back up to face the climb again. Regardless of the obstacles Iris faced, our alliance was able to take the lead, and the win, with the score being, 73-60.

Things became difficult as the elimination matches began. Iris took part in four elimination matches, winning the first, and losing the second. This resulted in the teams first loss for the day. As the elimination matches continued, Iris started facing many challenges. In one elimination match, Iris finally managed to reach the traversal rung during the endgame. Simultaneously, the team's shooter began to experience difficulties. Iris had lost function in its pneumatics system, and started experiencing issues with the limelight and battery. Ultimately, the team wasn’t able to work its way back through the elimination matches and lost in the semi-finals.

Hatboro-Havoc was a wonderful experience for the team. The competition was a great way to get the team together and gather excitement for what's to come with Nemesis. Hatboro-Havoc was a delightful experience, and we look forward to being back in Horsham, PA in the near future.

At the Mount Olive district event, Nemesis 2590 won the prestigious Engineering Inspiration Award. This award was given to Nemesis as a result of our relentless outreach to the Community locally, statewide, and even globally. Our team is highly active, with many outreach programs created, supported, and run by us. One of our primary efforts locally is Discovery and Engineering day, which spreads STEM to young students in our community. We work with the students, in elementary school for Discovery day, and middle school for Engineering day, to complete challenges as both mentors and students assist them to reach the end goal. During the covid pandemic, we did not want to end this long-standing Nemesis tradition, so we made it virtual! We held an online Discovery day, offering students the opportunity to complete kits at home, with tutorials created by team members to assist them in their efforts. Students posted results to our Facebook page with many students sporting impressive results! Ultimately, we were asked to assist other STEM clubs at our school to hold online events, reaching over 70 students. 

Nemesis works every season to put an excellent robot on the field, but it would be nothing without our supportive community! In order to give back to our community, we host a sponsor night, where we invite sponsors, parents, and other members of our community, to hear about all of the great achievements we have attained. We recently held our 2022 sponsor night, which was very successful, and we look forward to maintaining this tradition in the future. Additionally, we collaborate with our local school district to hold an annual food drive, where we work with 4th-grade classes to raise supplies for local food banks. Nemesis offers the class that donates the most food, a demonstration of the robot, delivered by our students. This simultaneously raises food for those less fortunate, and spreads STEM to young students, increasing their interest in joining robotics teams in the future, both FLL and Nemesis itself.

Nemesis understands that the opportunities to spread STEM stretch beyond our local community. We worked with our state assemblyman, Daniel Benson, to pass a bill to distribute funding to 12 districts, with the goal of starting new robotics teams all across New Jersey. These teams will primarily be located in underserved communities that traditionally could not afford to have a robotics team. We started with a joint legislative resolution for the Robbinsville town council, urging our state assembly to take action to increase the number of robotics teams within New Jersey. Following this, we worked with Daniel Benson to move this bill to be in front of the State legislature for a vote. Members of our team gave written and oral testimony to the state assembly and senate. We additionally held preparation sessions for other teams to do the same. The bill passed unanimously in all votes it was a part of, and Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law on December 21, 2021. Our team continues to work with FIRST Mid-Atlantic, and the teams that helped us pass the bill, to attain the funding needed for this bill. 

Our team has done numerous outreach events for our community domestically, so when the opportunity arose for us to expand internationally, we jumped at the opportunity to expand STEM to new horizons. We worked with our sponsor ITIAH and the nonprofit ITIAH Angels for Learning to send STEM challenges to students in HAITI. We have fostered this relationship for years, sending kits to Haiti, Panama, and Kenya. We have recently put together 200 STEM kits to send to students in both the House of Hope Orphanage and the Ecole Mere Louise school in Haiti. In addition to STEM kits, we are sending food, clothing, sports equipment, and legos. We fostered our relationship with our local community by holding a lego drive, which raised over 15,000 legos to send to students in Panama. Overall, our team relentlessly works to make sure that we continue to expand our outreach to our community and beyond, making sure STEM reaches as far and wide as it can. 
    
 

Nemesis is always looking for new ways to help out the community and spread STEM. Our project, where we developed STEM challenges for engineers in training, is a prime example of our outreach here at Nemesis. Recently, we assembled 800 kits for our outreach program. 600 of those kits will go to our local elementary school, where they will help reinforce STEM education. The other 200 will be sent to Haiti through one of our outreach partners. Each kit contains parts that allow the student to complete an engineering project. The kits encourage creativity and problem solving skills.  Realizing the importance of these kits, our team worked to develop the project and bring it to fruition.  There were three types of kits that we assembled. The first was a Wobble Bot, a robot designed like a toy that, when activated, moves in unpredictable directions. The second project was a rubber band powered helicopter, which would launch into a short flight and then glide  to the ground. The third kit was a toy modeled after a wizard’s wand which used popsicle sticks, wires, a watch battery, and an LED to illuminate a “spell” in different colors and was designed to introduce the students to basic electrical circuits. Accompanying videos will be posted to our YouTube channel, demonstrating how to assemble the kits and discussing the engineering principles of each kit. These kits represent just a small part of Nemesis' widespread outreach programs to help both our local and international communities in spreading awareness about STEM.

Nemesis got its first victory of this season, and an impressive one at that. The competition, hosted by Seneca High School, was the second district event that our team has attended this year. The event was spread over 2 days, with the first day focused entirely on the qualification matches, while the second included both the qualification and elimination matches. Day 1 started with an opening ceremony, followed by 47 matches. We played 9 matches on Saturday, winning all but one. Nemesis ended the day in the second seed and ready for the next day of competing.

The following day started off with a narrow defeat, but Nemesis regained its footing, ending the qualifiers with the 3rd place. Our strategy team worked with fellow teams to pick potential alliance partners, using the valuable data our scouts collected throughout the competition. The Alliance Selection saw the first seed team 5895, Peddie Robotics, choose us as their first pick. The second team chosen was team 5407, Wolfpack Robotics, forging an unstoppable alliance. The first quarterfinal matches demonstrated the amazing synergy of our alliance, and we bested the 8th seeded alliance in the second game of a 3 game series. The semi-finals went similarly, with our alliance scoring triple digits both times and setting a competition-high score of 117 points. Meanwhile, alliance 2 and 3 duked it out in the most intense matches of the day. While alliance 2 won the first game, the second match was decided by tiebreakers. Since the third alliance had committed less penalties, they won the second game. The third semi final saw the teams match each other not only on score, but also the first tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker, based on who scored more hangar points, revealed that alliance 2 had taken the series.

The first finals match saw our alliance triumph, with a triple digit score, in spite of a double traversal climb from alliance 2. We gripped the edges of our seats as we watched the second match unfold. With a flurry of shots from both alliances, it all seemed like a blur of speeding metal. When the dust finally settled, Nemesis was on the traversal rung and the red alliance had won 89-73. Screams of joy, excitement, and pure happiness filled the air as the entire stadium stood up in applause. We commend our opponents in Alliance 2 for their fierce competitiveness, as well as all the other teams who attended the event at Seneca. We saw firsthand how hard they all worked and how well it is paying off. With our alliance as the winners of the tournament, the awards ceremony ensued. Our team won the industrial design award, commending our excellent “industrial design principles”. Seneca was a resounding victory for our team, and we are most excited to attend our next competition, the First Mid Atlantic Regional Championship, at Lehigh University.
 

At the 2022 Seneca District Competition, our very own Vinu Sankaran won the Dean's List Nomination Award. Vinu wowed the judges during his interview, where he talked about his long history with FIRST, how he was introduced to Nemesis and his great contributions to this team. Vinu started his journey in the FIRST community through FLL where he was part of team Shockwave. When he was in elementary school, he attended an event that Nemesis hosts for children in Robbinsville, Discovery Day. At Discovery Day Vinu’s eyes were opened to the STEM opportunities that were available in high school and he was mesmerized by the FRC Robot Demo which was part of the event. He was intrigued by his experience through the hands-on activities at Discovery Day and went on to attend Engineering Day, a similar event held by Nemesis that is targeted towards older children. When his freshman year rolled along he tried out for the Build Team here at Nemesis and successfully earned himself a spot on this team. Through his years as a Nemesis member, Vinu explored his interests and found that he was more aligned with our Community Outreach subteam where he began to contribute to. Currently, he is a Co-lead of the Community Outreach team and is one of three members of our Chairman’s team. Vinu demonstrated his creativity, research skills, strong presentation skills, and his devotion to this team while being a Chairman’s team member. In our virtual 2021 season, Nemesis won the Chairman’s Award which was a proud victory for the entire team. This would not have been possible without Vinu’s time that he spent working with the rest of his fantastic Chairman’s partners. Vinu himself said, “Winning this award is something I’m very proud of, however putting a hundred percent effort and care into all my contributions to this team is the basic standard that I hold myself to.” Vinu is a well-rounded student as he is also part of the Boy’s Tennis Team and Model UN at Robbinsville High School. There is one lesson that Vinu always carries with him: no matter what, he should let all his activities produce fun! Vinu Sankaran is clearly Dean’s List material because he is a gracious professional, hard worker, engaged team member and friend to all! Vinu brings laughter and joy to this team while being an efficient worker during every meeting and on March 27th at Seneca High School, he brought us great honor when he won his Dean’s List Nomination Award!

The Mount Olive competition was a great way to start off our 2022 season. This competition was hosted by the Mount Olive Highschool. The first day was entirely made up of qualification matches, with the second day consisting of both qualification matches, and the final knockout stage. Day one was shortened due to inclement weather, and as a result it ended at 11 am. After the opening ceremonies were completed, the qualification matches began. During the remainder of day 1,  teams worked through 13 matches of fierce competition. Nemesis participated in the second match of the day and with the help of our prolific shooting, and  the team's ability to climb to the second or “medium” bar, we were able to secure a 46-22 victory. After 2 games on the opening day, we finished with 1 win and 1 loss, being ranked 16th going into the second day. 

The next day of the competition, the team prepared for a day jam packed with games, our team being scheduled for 10 games this day, with a knockout stage following the completion of the qualification matches. In the first qualification match, our team started off with a bang, scoring 63 points, ending with our first successful high climb of the competition, allowing us to win by a score of 63-8. As the day carried on, our robot continued to win matches, rapidly climbing the leaderboard, with the help of our traversal climb reliably scoring our alliances 15 points in the endgame stage. While this was happening, our team scouted other matches, making sure to note teams that would be ideal teammates in the following stage. As the qualifiers continued, and our climb became more reliable, the team managed to go on a 6 game winning streak, sending our team to the number one seed for the knockout stage and clinched a spot for us in the quarter finals. Using our scouting data, we chose alliance partners. Our first alliance pick was team 3142, Aperture, and they accepted the invitation to join our alliance, becoming the second of three members. Our second selection was team 4652, Ironmen II, filling our alliance with strong partners. In the quarterfinals, Nemesis’ alliance took 2 commanding victories winning the 2 opening  games in the best of 3 series, the final scores being 83-53, and 93-63, scoring multiple 30+ point endgames. Nemesis advanced to the semifinals, preparing to face off against the blue alliance consisting of the teams 1674, 834, and 102.  On the back of our traversal climb, we won the series 2-0 after hard fought games and earned a trip to the finals.

In the finals, we faced off against the blue alliance, which was made up of teams 1403, 222, and 1811. In our opening match, our alliance unfortunately lost 40-26, though the match was being voided, due to a field issue. In the second match, conditions devolved. Due to their damaged communications, Team 3142 couldn't go on in the competition. Initially, the two remaining members of our alliance tried to win the first counted match of the finals, hoping that 3142 would have their robot fixed promptly. We narrowly lost this match by 9 points, going down in the series, 1-0. As the second match approached, team 3142 was still unable to fix their communications, and a replacement was implemented. Team 8771 stepped in, and put on a great performance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. Our alliance fell 46-32 to the blue alliance. The performances from teams 222, 1403, and 1811 posed a great challenge for us, and we commend them on their skills and abilities. The awards ceremony ensued where our team won the Engineering Inspiration award to celebrate our outstanding sucess and appreciation for engineering.  Nemesis is excited for a great season, and our next event at Seneca. 

Kickoff weekend was two days filled with excitement, curiosity and the begining of new ideas for FRC teams across the globe! The new 2022 challenge, Rapid React, was streamed live from FRC headquarters in New Hampshire to teams on January 8th. Here in Robbinsville, team Nemesis 2590 stirred with anticipation for the game overview to be released as they viewed the live stream together. The entire team was at the edge of their seats as the livestream progressed and the time for the big announcement came closer! The moment the black chest was opened and the two new pieces of cargo were unleashed to the awaiting FRC teams, Nemesis shook the room with cheers and claps! The 2022 build season has officially commenced!

This year's challenge consists of the traditional 3 game periods: the Autonomous period, the teleoperated period, as well as the endgame, when robots can climb the hangar. All of which are designed for the robot to accomplish specific aspects of the challenge. Robots have the opportunity to score points by: taxiing from their tarmac, retrieving and scoring their assigned cargo into the hub, continuing to retrieve and score their assigned cargo into the hub, as well as engaging with their hangar. One large difference from this year’s field in comparison to the last is the hangar itself as it’s no longer located in the center of the field, but instead there are two hangars in the corners of the field (one per alliance).This year’s projectiles, cargo, is also different from previous years as it resembles a lighter, ‘dodge-ball sized’ tennis ball which are color coordinated for each alliance. 

After the livestream, the team split into small groups to talk about their brewing thoughts for the coming season. On Saturday, the rooms stirred with brainstorming, questions and a whole lot of new strategies. The Rapid React challenge, especially with the theme of transportation, is intriguing to Nemesis because of all the possible ways to incorporate the concept into their robot. The question of “What” was being asked as the team clarified their goals on the field, the feasibility of achieving their goals and which challenges were their priorities. Finally, the entire team came together to compile a list based on their small-group analyses.  

On Sunday, after deciding the tasks that the team wished to accomplish, the discussions of “How” came into session. The build team broke into smaller subteams to put out their initial thoughts while beginning strategizing the routes they wanted to take to create their most successful robot. The commencement of prototyping is soon to follow; this is where team 2590 utilizes the method of trial and error to creatively and effectively find ways to complete their missions. Work for the marketing team also began as their large list of tasks was divided amongst members and subteams for the approaching competitions. The main topic in the marketing room was the to-do list for the upcoming Sponsor Night. It’s all because of the sponsors that the team is able to build a world class robot and compete in the First competitions!

Kickoff weekend, at home in Robbinsville, was spent doing hard work, but there was no doubt that it was tons of fun! From the time the challenge was released to the creation of the first prototypes the team shared so many laughs and smiles. There is nothing but excitement from FRC 2590 for this new build season and a fresh start!

Brunswick Eruption was a wonderful way to end the competition season of 2021 and is always an exhilarating off-season event to participate in. This year, for the first time, the competition was hosted by North Brunswick Middle School and was on Sunday November 7th 2021. Covid protocols limited the number of team members who were permitted to physically attend, but the support system from the online watch party was prominent. Brunswick Eruption led Nemesis through ups, downs and finally to victory as they managed to find solutions to any issue that came upon them! The competition was incredibly thrilling but most importantly filled with cooperation as Nemesis introduced new drivers and operators to the playing field and allied with teams in the semi- final matches. There’s  never a dull moment at a competition like Brunswick Eruption and 2021 was a year to remember!

Nemesis was playing in the first match of the competition, and we got off to a rocky start when our robot, Hades, was motionless during the autonomous period. The endgame of  this match didn’t prove successful as the robot failed to climb. This moment didn’t discourage the Nemesis team members, but instead empowered them to think of quick and efficient solutions to these issues. Next, things took a turn for the better as our drivers (Griffin David, Jack Hobart), operators (Abhik Ray, Rohan Bhatnagar), and robots warmed up and got situated on the field during the Qualification Matches. The technical issues that were seen in the opening match were nowhere to be found as the competition progressed. After the buzzer sounded, commencing matches, Hades brought cheers from the stands, but one moment that was especially memorable to everyone in the room was when Nemesis had an outstanding autonomous period performance. The robot shot three balls and had time to retrieve more balls from the trench and all in the allotted fifteen seconds. Nemesis ended the qualification matches with a rank of 8th place (out of 14)

Closely following the elimination matches came the time for alliance selection. The top four placing teams were allowed to choose two more teams to form an alliance with. The number two alliance, Robo Vikings (2607), partnered with Nemesis. The second team which the Robo Vikings chose in alliance was team 1626, Falcon Robotics. The partnerships made in the alliance-selection were dependent on the scouting records from the Qualification matches. With Nemesis only being able to bring along twelve team members, the scouting experience was not akin to years past. In prior competitions, full teams would gather to encourage, assist and scout during matches. Scouting is when a team member keeps a log of a robot’s performance during a match. However, this year the strategy leads, Araash Ahuja and Hammad Farooqi, took on the task and succeeded in scouting solo.

The greatly awaited semi-finals have arrived! A Round-Robin style competition format with the fully formed alliances took place (everybody gets to play everybody). Anticipation filled every team member, mentor and robot in the gymnasium as each match was being played. The hard work of a full season came down to these matches as the 2021 season was coming to an end. Nemesis, Robo Vikings and Falcon Robotics played three matches and came out victorious in each one! With a (3-0) record our partnership with alliance number four continued to the exhilarating final rounds. 

The Finals consists of three matches, and the best of three takes home the title of champion. The remaining six robots align themselves behind the initiation line. Heart raced in the crowds like sprinters as the first match of the finals was seconds away from beginning. The autonomous period went as planned for Nemesis, but shortly after, things took an unexpected course as the game piece intake jammed. It’s moments like these where team members must utilize a plan B and adjust to the circumstances instead of folding under pressure and that is exactly the skill that Nemesis showed. With the intake clogged up, shooting and collecting balls was no longer an option and the Drive team put their minds together to come up with the idea to spend the match playing defense. Our alliance compensated for the inability to play offense as expected when the endgame came around; not only did they perform an incredible double climb, but also a leveled shield generator was achieved which brought an additional 65 points on our side of the scoreboard. At the end of the first match, the ball was in the court of our alliance as they won with a score of (109-84). The time for the second match approached and excitement covered the stands like a blanket. The match began and from the beginning of the autonomous period to the closing of the end game, there was not a single person not at the edge of their seats. Both teams continuously made penalties throughout the match which kept the score tight. All eyes were glued to the field and with every passing second a new level of anticipation and excitement was reached. As the buzzer rang to announce the end of the second match, it was uncertain who the winner was as the score seemed extremely close during the entirety of the match. Finally, as the score was revealed along with the animated red fireworks behind it the red alliance were named the champions of the competition (2 out of 3 matches were won). The gymnasium shook with cheers and the energy was through the roof! The claps and hollers were all that was heard from the participants of the competition!

Brunswick Eruption was an ultimate success, not only for Nemesis, but for their wonderful partners in alliance: Robo Vikings and Falcon Robotics aswell. Strategy Lead, Hammad Farooqi explains, “The whole story of Brunswick Eruption was of progression and perseverance because although we got off to a bad start it was really inspiring to see our drivers and our robot get better over time and ultimately win the competition alongside our great alliance.” This day showed that no matter how unexpected and crazy things seem handling each moment with teamwork, calmness, and determination towards the goal will lead to victory. There was no better way to wave goodbye to the 2021 season than this and Nemesis looks forward to being back at Brunswick Eruption in the future. 

Scraps of newspapers, tape, and scissors. That was all students had to create the tallest possible structure capable of lifting a dodge ball. In the first meeting since COVID lockdowns, a buzz of excitement and nervousness filled the air. 

A team undoubtedly different from that which entered COVID, they entered with eagerness to learn and compete. Nemesis leadership randomly chose groups of three, and then presented the challenge.

A challenge was made to test the creativity and teamwork skills of each group, and no one was disappointed. The rules required each group to build a detachable structure out of tape and paper capable of lifting a playground ball in just 90 minutes. These rules and requirements certainly pushed everyone to use their design and engineering skills to the fullest. 

Nonetheless, every group worked productively to put their ideas into practice. Each group had distinct and original solutions to the problem, and none failed to hold the dodge ball to incredible heights. The solutions ranged from models of skyscrapers, tripods, cubes, and pyramids. Groups competed with one another to prove their design in a race against time.  Some groups who had finished early expanded on their original concepts to reach even higher heights. One group revised their model three times to reach the breathtaking height of 10 feet.

The first meeting built the connections and chemistry needed for a new team, and brought valuable experience to each and every team member. We look forward to a new and better season of FRC!

Our award-winning game animation video begins, “Welcome to Nemesis 2590’s entry for the 2021 FIRST Game Design Challenge: FIRST Fusion...“

For this year’s Game Design Challenge (GDC), one of the remotely-judged 2021 FRC competitions, teams were tasked with creating their own functional FRC game, complete with a fully developed set of rules and playing field. Winners pitch their game ideas to the official FRC Game Design Team, for the opportunity to have their designs used in future FRC competitions. 

Nemesis’ designated GDC subteam, though working entirely virtually, dove straight in to tackle this challenge. By following the engineering design process as they would when building a robot, the group emerged with Nemesis’ own original FRC Game: FIRST Fusion.

Weeks of research, brainstorming, evaluating and refining ideas were essential to creating this finished product. The group made sure to incorporate some of the best aspects from past FRC games while still creating a unique design. Difficulty of tasks, strategic play, rookie/veteran inclusion, as well as player and audience engagement were some of the important factors considered when creating the game. On top of this, FIRST Fusion’s game field and rules were fine-tuned to ensure smooth, fair gameplay.

Nemesis’ GDC subteam created its very own game animation video, similar to the official FRC Kickoff videos that are released at the start of the build season every year. The team modeled, animated, and spliced together a video from scratch, describing the game challenge and giving a brief overview of the expected gameplay. FIRST Fusion’s game animation can be viewed below:

Upon submitting their game description documents and game animation video, the subteam gave a live, virtual presentation of their game to a panel of judges. At the official 2021 Game Design Challenge Awards show, it was announced that Nemesis’ FIRST Fusion won the Engineering Design Award in the FIRST Mid Atlantic region.

The sound of exciting conversations radiated from everyone’s computers as Nemesis 2590 brainstormed ideas for their next project…

One of the competitions that Nemesis participated in for the 2021 FIRST FRC season was the Innovation Challenge (IC). For this contest, teams were given the prompt, “Identify a problem or opportunity and design a solution to help people (or a community of people) keep, regain, or achieve optimum physical and/or mental health and fitness through active play or movement.”

The dedicated and hard-working Nemesis IC subteam immediately jumped in to take on the challenge. Although the entire season was fully virtual, this obstacle did not hinder Nemesis in any way. Many excellent ideas were developed during the first few weeks, from fitness tracking shoes to an online platform with live workout challenges. After going back and forth between many inspirational proposals, the team ultimately decided on BeneFit.

BeneFit is a free fitness app that emphasizes a physical and mental health balance. The app greets the user with a screen that asks how the user is feeling. Based on this information, the app recommends a specific workout tailored to the user, ranging from high-intensity training to yoga and meditation. At the end of the workout, users answer another brief survey on their likes and dislikes of the workout they just did. Through this process, BeneFit learns the user’s preferences to improve the recommendation system for future workouts and the app can provide unique workouts to each user. This design helps to bridge the gap between mental and physical health, as the system revolves around the emotions of the user.

The app has many other aspects as well, such as a personalized daily schedule, avatar customization through in-app currency, and the option to order food within BeneFit through vendors such as Hello Fresh. BeneFit also has a feature that imitates working out with friends through real-time progress reports of all the participants, even if they aren’t physically there together. This was an especially relevant feature at the time since many people refrained from meeting others during the Covid pandemic.

Extensive planning was needed to make BeneFit. The IC team conducted thorough research to formulate the business plan for the app. Many factors, such as video ads, affiliate links, in-app purchases, customer outreach, and other resources needed for BeneFit were taken into account when making the business plan. Several user experience mockups were created to show the interface of the app, and a detailed competitive analysis comparing BeneFit with other popular health apps such as Calm and Weight Watchers was done as well. Furthermore, the team consulted several experts from different fields such as mental health, software, and finance to seek feedback and improve BeneFit as much as possible.

Nemesis advanced to the semifinals for the 2021 Innovation Challenge. However, the story doesn’t end here! The team submitted the idea of BeneFit for the 2021 Altice Innovator Awards. Nemesis won first place for the Innovative Design Concept Award and the runner-up for the Outstanding Business Model Award. In total, Nemesis was presented with a grant of $2500.

Although the virtual season was not ideal, Nemesis was very proud of what they achieved. BeneFit is a creative innovation that is very useful for individuals striving to improve their mental and physical health. The team was grateful to take part in the 2021 Innovation Challenge.