As the build season reaches its midpoint, the team reaches an all time high in productivity. With the design team coming to a final decision for the robot and the fabrication team starting to mill, router, and lathe the various parts, an image of the final product begins to take form. The drivetrain for the practice robot has been finished and dusted as our driver begins to practice driving. The electrical team is hard at work fulfilling all the needs from test boards for prototyping the electronics on the robot.

Prototyping teams are moving to finalize their designs for two shooters, a linear and a fly wheel. It’s a friendly competition within the team to see who finishes first! The intake and climber prototypes have been finalized after several successful runs of each to ensure maximum effectiveness.

After a few minor setbacks, the team worked as efficiently as possible to remain on schedule. As build season continues, our robot is coming closer and closer together, a trend we hope to continue moving into and through Week 4.

Chaotic and exciting are perfect ways to describe Week 3 of Build Season 2017. With Sponsor Networking Night just a few days away, Marketing Team members have had their work cut out for them! The showcases have been updated, and the Chairman’s Board is being redesigned to accommodate our ever-evolving team. The folders for Sponsor Networking Night are almost ready, as finishing touches are being made on the presentation and Executive Summary. Both members of the Marketing Team and the Build Team are refining their knowledge of the team’s FAQs, preparing to speak to sponsors on Wednesday night.

The Finance Team spent this past week speaking to current sponsors, potential sponsors, and local community businesses. The Finance Team is also comparing 2017’s financial projections with 2016’s actuals to help identify growth, in addition to continuing their updates to the Business Plan. Oh, and don’t forget about filing those taxes too!

The Logistics Team worked diligently to finalize all of our trips for the upcoming competition season, and we are especially excited to travel to Montreal for the Festival de Robotique.

With half of build season completed, everyone on Nemesis is bubbling with anticipation for the remaining weeks as well as the upcoming competition season!

And that’s a wrap for week 2 of build season 2017! All members throughout the marketing, web, finance and logistic teams have a considerable amount of work ahead of them. With Nemesis’ Annual Sponsor Networking Night just a over a week away, everyone is on the top of there game and getting things done. The showcases are all but finished, the sponsor night trifolds are ready for printing, and the logistics team have been thinking ahead with details for impending competitions. When asked about her experience in build season week two, marketing team member Rachel Gilmer said, “When you have to do something twice, keep calm and put a smile on your face. It will all get done in good time.”

Week two of build season has been a jumble of photo editing, writing, rewriting, and adding final touches to the long-term projects started in December. The design for the “Nemesis 10 Year Anniversary” t-shirts is approaching its final draft as well as the Business Plan cover for 2017. All members of all teams are putting countless hours into their work and it is truly paying off.

In addition to their week of hard work, the girls on the marketing team (and a few build girls too!) took a trip to Freehold Raceway Mall where they went shopping for dresses and accessories for Sponsor Networking Night on February 1st and getting their makeup done at the NARS makeup counter in Lord & Taylor, receiving fresh looks for the important presentations in the days to come.

During Week 2, the Build Team continued to spend their time prototyping in the Tech Lab.  As the second week of prototyping comes to an end the team made decisions about some the prototypes and finalized some designs. The CAD Team members started to recreate the finished prototype subsystems. The Build Team discussed how to best configure them on the robot.

Build Team members continued to debate strategy to determine the best course of action.

Several subteams were created to focus on different aspects of the game:

• The Gear Subteam continued to modify and finalize their design to obtain gears from the feeder stations and deliver then to the airship.

• The Shooter Subteam spent the week testing out two shooter prototypes for accuracy, speed, and consistency, and made the final decision about which design to use on the robot.

• The team that worked on the robot’s climbing mechanism decided on a final design that proved to be very successful in lifting a great amount of weight.

• The Intake Team has made several prototypes to collect fuel from the ground, hoppers, and feeder stations and continues to work on identifying the best solution.

This year’s robot is beginning to take shape. Everyone continues to put in their best efforts.  We anticipate finishing prototyping, continuing CADing throughout Week 3.

It’s finally here! Planning, prototyping and long hours in the tech lab, all accented the first week of the Build Season. Starting at kickoff, we became more familiar with the objectives of our robot and what we needed to succeed in this year’s game, FIRST STEAMWORKS! Knowing that this year our robot would have to climb a rope, collect and deliver gears, be able to shoot fuel into the boilers, as well as collect fuel from the input, our analysis meeting brainstormed several brilliant strategies. We broke up into subteams, and began prototyping many different features in order to make this year’s robot the best it could possibly be.   

Here’s a quick re-cap of this week's progress made by each subteam:

The subteam working with the challenge of the gears, were able to create a path that would catch the gear and have considered multiple ways of getting it onto the spring. Over the week they have tried several variations of these parts in order to improve the success rate.   

The climbing subteam worked on two prototypes this week. Both prototypes were able to lift 110 pounds in a short amount of time. Only time will decide which version will work best with our robot design.

The sub team for the hopper worked on procuring fuel from the input.. They were able to create various prototypes this week. They tried out many designs to see which one would be the best at accomplishing the task.  

The sub team for the shooter was able to create many prototypes to see which one would work best in the game. Most of the prototypes were able to shoot a long horizontal and vertical distance at a very quick speed. One of the prototypes was able to shoot the fuel at a quicker rate.

With every subteam working diligently on various parts of the robot, it would be truly rewarding to see it eventually be cohesively integrated into the finished product!

Lots and lots of prototyping still happening. Nothing definite yet, but soon! Little by little its all coming together. We can’t wait to see what week 2 brings!

After an exciting kickoff, the Marketing Team is busy preparing for Sponsor Networking Night. The rough draft for the slideshow and oral presentations are almost complete. Invitations have been sealed and sent. The Nemesis showcase is currently being updated with new pictures and information. Everyone is focused on putting the event together and excited to present their accomplishments from the 2016 season.  

The Finance Team is currently writing emails and grants to reach out to potential sponsors, as well as booking dates to discuss fundraising. Logistics is working on planning trips for the upcoming season. With Week 1 coming to a close, the entire marketing team is looking forward to seeing what exciting things Week 2 will bring!

When I walked into the Montgomery High School on Saturday January 7th for the FIRST Robotic Competition 2017 Kickoff, I was both nervous and excited. I couldn't wait to find out what my life was going to be dedicated to for the upcoming season. It was thrilling to see how they presented the game. The anticipation was heavy as we waited for the other teams to arrive. We split into different groups to go to workshops. I chose Gearboxes and Drive Trains. It was nice to have a refresher for parts of the robot. Following the workshop, everyone went to see the game reveal. It was exciting seeing the different videos of the teams but the best part was finally knowing what the 2017 game was. Overall, it was really fun and everyone was incredibly welcoming.

Even the threat of a winter storm could not deter them. On January 7th 2017, thousands of FIRST Robotics teams around the world held their breath as they anxiously awaited the release of the 2017 game. Each year at Kickoff, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) provides these high school robotics students with a new challenge to hone their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills at competitive regional, district-wide, and international events. The Kickoff marks the beginning of 6 hectic weeks to design, prototype, and build a robot to effectively address the game challenge.

On the frigid Saturday morning, robotics teams from high schools in North Brunswick, Bridgewater-Raritan, Ewing, West Windsor-Plainsboro, and Allentown joined Robbinsville's Nemesis Team 2590 at Montgomery High School for the Kickoff of the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition season.

Before the game reveal, students were able to attend a multitude of workshops hosted by Montgomery High School's own robotics team, Cougar Robotics. Providing instruction in a variety of subjects such as gearboxes, pneumatics, sensors, and Autodesk Inventor (a CAD - Computer Aided Design - program), the workshops served as an efficient way to assist students in learning some concepts that would benefit them in the upcoming build season.

"The gearbox workshop was extremely insightful," commented Robbinsville sophomore, Morgan Serra. "It especially helps new robotics members like myself to understand this topic before we begin to brainstorm. Without this workshop I would've been totally confused throughout build season!"

Excitement buzzed through the air as teams gathered in the auditorium and waited for the NASA-TV webcast to start, live from FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire. As the game was revealed, the applause was deafening. Introducing the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition challenge... FIRST Steamworks!

FIRST Steamworks, inspired by steam power technology from the Industrial Revolution, features two alliances of three robots each. The game starts with a 15 second autonomous period in which robots operate solely through pre-coded instructions. The remaining 2 minutes and 15 seconds of each match consists of fierce competition between the alliances in which robots are driven by student drivers. Each alliance's goal is to prepare their airship for takeoff by collecting as much fuel (balls) as possible and shooting it into the boiler (goals). They must also deliver gears to the pilots (human players) on their airship in the middle of the field who will install them in order to start the engines. In the last 30 seconds of the match, robots can latch onto the airship by climbing a thick rope, which earns them additional points. The alliance with the most points at the end of the match wins!

Feeling adrenalized after the game reveal, Nemesis members are already overflowing with ideas on how to design this year's robot.

“This is definitely much different from last year, especially with a drive team member on the field for the first time in FIRST Robotics history,” remarked senior and Build Executive Harsha Pavuluri. “With the many aspects of the game, I can’t wait to hear what the team comes up with!”

Nemesis will be competing at Hatboro-Horsham High School on March 4-5th, at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on March 18-19th, and at the Festival de Robotique in Montreal, Canada on March 23-25th. Nemesis hopes to qualify for the FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship at Lehigh University and the FIRST Championship in St. Louis.

Nemesis would like to thank their sponsors for their continued success: Robbinsville High School, NAVAIR, CCL Label, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nordson, Robbinsville Education Association, Leidos, Triangle East Windsor, Skylink Technology Inc., Northstar Vets, RAS Process Equipment, Designtree, EAG, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Lockheed Martin, SRI International, McGraw Hill Financial, Siemens, and Investors Bank.

On the weekend of December 3rd, over 120 second through sixth grade students flocked to the RHS Tech Lab for Robotics Discovery Day. Here, they learned and experienced the thrill of an engineering challenge, with the guidance of Nemesis team members, many of whom participated as campers in Discovery Day themselves. Captivated, students engaged in each of the four exciting activities that Nemesis had in store for them: building a robot to meet a game-inspired challenge, talking and dancing with the team’s humanoid NAO Robot, driving Daedalus, the award-winning 2016 robot, and attending a presentation and Q & A session with a Robbinsville FIRST Lego League (FLL) team.

Four FLL teams, Nerd Herd, Shockwave, IDK, and Electrons were inspired by the success of Nemesis. This year they built LEGO NXT robots and competed in the FLL Animal Allies Challenge. Their robots used color sensors and extensive programming to navigate their courses and deliver “food” to all of the “animals” scattered throughout their landscape.

The campers, divided into teams of two and guided by Nemesis members, worked on exciting LEGO projects. The younger campers participated in the Parachute Challenge where the ultimate goal was to drop a parachute crafted out of LEGOs and napkins from the second story walkway using a student-designed contraption. More advanced campers competed in the Catapult Challenge, using LEGO Mindstorms to engineer and build a motorized ping-pong shooting catapult. Campers who desired a more challenging exercise were invited to take on the Maze Challenge. Our most determined campers built NXT robots that utilized color sensors to navigate a maze. Nemesis member, Kaitlyn Young, who worked with the young students, was very impressed. “Watching my campers believe they can do anything,” she said, “filled me with pride.”

Discovery Day revolves around exposing young students to the ever-changing worlds of science and technology. Marketing Team member Rachel Gillmer offered her perspective on the success of the event, saying, “It was enlightening to watch these campers push themselves to learn new and exciting skills.” Ensuring campers are passionate about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) is essential to the future of Nemesis and robotics programs everywhere. Discovery Day 2016 was a great opportunity to get young campers involved. Campers who participated in Discovery Day left feeling enthusiastic about all that they accomplished and more passionate about robotics that ever before.

Only 364 days until Discovery Day 2017! See you next year!

Energetic young children and their eager parents gathered at the Robbinsville Public Library for a visit from Nemesis. On November 5, 2016 Nemesis team members gave a demonstration of their award-winning 2016 competition robot, Daedalus. Awestruck and amazed, the young children watched as Daedalus shot boulders into totes and moved effortlessly, gliding across the room.

The young attendees and their parents became intrigued with the world of FIRST Robotics. The demonstration began with a brief description of the 2016 game, FIRST Stronghold, a medieval game of Capture The Castle. Later, an explanation of how Daedalus functions, and a visit from our NAO robot enchanted the children. After seeing Daedalus in action, the attendees could not believe that a high school team made such an impressive robot in such a short amount of time.

During the presentation, the children had the opportunity to act as Daedalus–going over and under obstacles and even “storming the castle” by shooting balls into a tote. Nemesis members were often asked questions about their robot and how FIRST changed their lives. One mother of a five year old boy expressed her gratitude to the team, saying, “You have no idea how much he loves robotics and coding. Seeing teenagers doing what he wants to do when he gets older makes him feel like he can do anything.” Her comment showed the team how much of an influence STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education has on the elementary school students, and how programs like FIRST Robotics can make going into a STEAM field a dream for many.  

After watching the demonstration, many of the parents asked how they could get their children involved in robotics and start up their own team for younger students. Luckily, Nemesis has had their annual Discovery Day on December 3th and 4th where students from second to sixth grade have the opportunity to build and program Lego Mindstorms to complete open ended challenges. There, local FIRST Lego League teams will be on hand to answer any questions they have.

Everyone left the event proclaiming how much fun they had learning about the exciting world of FIRST. Nemesis would like to thank the Robbinsville Public Library, and especially Michelle Cromwell, for the opportunity to expose share their love of robots with the community.

On October 15th, 2016, Robbinsville High School’s FIRST Robotics team took innovation head-on for the second year in a row. Held at Toms River High School North, New Jersey Makerfest went off without a hitch. Innovators from across the state came together to show what exciting creations they had to offer to the world, and Nemesis was no exception. As a team we came together to showcase our 2014, 2016, and NAO robots, and speak about the incredible world of FIRST Robotics.

The attendees were enthralled with all our team had accomplished, and at such a young age too! Children that gathered around our station became infatuated with our high-performing robots that shoot balls from great lengths, drive at high speeds, and dance to a steady beat.

The NAO robot in particular drew the masses with its choreographed Tai-Chi routine, and was able to to keep them fixated while it danced the Macarena, as well as the crowd-pleasing Disco. One group who was particularly enamored with the wonders that this tiny robot could accomplish came from a school for low-functioning, special-needs children. After speaking to one of our members, they were convinced that implementing a humanoid robot in their school could open a whole new world of wonders for their students, as well as act as a new therapeutic method for their school’s learners.

Nemesis is honored to see all the hard work our students have put into our everyday tools finally make a serious impact on the lives of others.

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way an egg should be able to fly. It lacks wings, aerodynamics, and any capability of attaining such characteristics. Despite this and against all odds, eggs flew on November 19th at the Robbinsville Robotics FRC 2590 Nemesis Annual Engineering Day.  

Over the course of two four-hour sessions, Nemesis invited 6th through 8th graders to the Robbinsville High School tech lab. The purpose? To challenge the students and foster within them a drive to pursue STEAM careers. Each pair of campers explored engineering through two challenges designed by Nemesis: an egg parachute and marshmallow launcher (the former requiring students to construct a protective capsule for the egg and then drop it from Robbinsville High School’s second floor balcony). Students were provided with finite resources of cardboard, hot glue, and foam, to model real-world constraints.

The challenges provided forced the students to think outside the egg-box and innovate, creating a microcosm of the professional engineering world. Build team member and sophomore Richa Mandrekar remarked that “What makes this so important is that this almost cultivates the next generation of STEAM,” as her group returned into the lab from launching a marshmallow 21 feet. “Plus, it’s fun. You see excitement in their eyes.” The group later beat their record by 10 feet.

Whereas Discovery Day introduces middle and elementary schoolers to STEAM, Engineering Day fleshes that introduction out to integrate real world constraints. While financial pressures need not apply, competition, innovation, and time were extremely prevalent within the activities. Participants needed to find their edge to best address the design challenges, producing unique results, shown below.  (as shown below). .

In engineering, there exist near infinite possibilities of mechanical failure. A gear losing its teeth, a crossbeam bowing, or even an entire chassis collapsing. However, only two things ended up breaking at the 2016 Annual Robbinsville Robotics FRC 2590 Nemesis Engineering Day: misconceptions and eggs.

This fall, Nemesis 2590 was honored with an invitation to present a TEDx talk at Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst, discussing their success in getting students involved in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). The event was attended by about 150 eager listeners and dozens of other speakers, from scientists to soldiers. Between presentations, musical entertainers performed for the crowd.

The TED program (Technology, Engineering, and Design) is a world-renowned nonprofit dedicated to spreading new ideas throughout the global community. This TEDx event was independently organized by a hardworking team at led by Colonel Cynthia Wong at Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst.

Nemesis received an invitation in late August and quickly assembled a team of experienced members to prepare our presentation. They immediately recognized the significance of the opportunity. The topic was simple, and seemingly straightforward: “How does Nemesis inspire Generation Z to get involved in STEAM?” Generation Z, today’s young adults, have a uniquely intimate connection to technology. Gen Z children were the first to be born in the digital age. As such, they have grown used to immediate gratification, unceasing “connection” to the outside world, and ease of access to the internet.

In the earliest stages of development, the question of inspiration seemed straightforward, but the team soon ran into some unexpected challenges. What began as a simple answer drifted off topic as the writers tried to capture the spirit of our team-- the camaraderie and friendship that draws so many interested students into the RHS Tech Lab. Inspiration is an abstract concept.

With the help of their advisors, the writers gradually realized why Nemesis is inspiring: Team 2590 caters to the needs of today’s teens because they are today’s teens. For an impressionable young man or woman, who is more relatable than a student their own age? When a teenager sees their contemporaries doing something they could only dream of, inspiration is inevitable. With this in mind, the writers took to the drawing board one last time. The final draft not only captured the spirit of the team, but also helped the writers truly understand and appreciate the value of their work, and the investment of their mentors and advisors. It became a twofold learning experience; an external study of Generation Z, and an internal study of the workings of Nemesis.

On Tuesday, October 24, the four writers-- and soon to be presenters--, Emily Marsch, Amanda Quon, Nick Anderson, and Mariko McMurtry, were dressed to impress. That morning, they left school early with mentors Joy Wolfe and Karen Young, and a small robot drive team (Charlie D'Amico, James Aikins, Niratjot Grewal, and Harsha Pavuluri). Upon arrival at the base, they squeezed in a brief rehearsal before the event began. Ever calm and collected, time seemed to fly by as Emily, Amanda, Nick, and Mariko waited backstage, silently rehearsing the speech in their heads. Suddenly, one of the event coordinators leaned around the doorway and urgently whispered, “You’re up!” The walk out to the stage seemed surreal; the robot crew moved mechanically as they looked out at the audience, taking everything in. Time seemed to stop for a moment, and then the speakers began.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We are Amanda, Emily, and Nick of the Robbinsville High School FIRST Robotics team, Nemesis. Now, if we asked you to think of a robot, you might imagine one of these…”

Emily began with a lighthearted introduction, bringing the audience members back to their childhood as she talked about the rift-- of culture and time-- that separates Generation Z from Gen X and Gen Y. The audience was attentive, polite, and quick to laugh at jokes, helping the presenters relax as they spoke. Time, which seemed to slow before, passed in leaps and bounds as the speakers transitioned seamlessly from one point to another. As the speakers lined up with Bellerophon to take a bow, the audience erupted into cheers and applause. Following their presentation, the team fielded questions and networked with fellow speakers and audience members, many of whom were impressed by team and the FIRST program as a whole. Some of the younger audience members had competed in FIRST when they were in high school; they were amazed to see how the program has grown.

Nemesis would like to thank Colonel Cynthia Wong of the United States Air Force, Mr. Mangano of NAVAIR, and all those who supported us at TEDx: Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. We sincerely appreciate everything you did for us, and it was a pleasure working with you!

Below is a link to Navair's article about the event:

http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.NavairNewsStory&id=6411

On June 5, 2016, FIRST Robotics Team Nemesis 2590 traveled to the US Naval Air Engineering Center in Lakehurst, NJ, to tour the NAVAIR robotics lab and facilities. Naval Air Systems, a key sponsor for the team, develops aircraft propulsion and arrestment techniques for use on the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers, as well as autonomous robotics systems that can accomplish certain tasks aboard ships at sea. After attending Nemesis’ Sponsor Networking Night, NAVAIR’s outreach manager, Mr. Gaetan Mangano, kindly invited the team to the base, where they were able to see the same technology they use every year to compete being applied in a professional field.

Upon arrival, Mr. Mangano led the team in for a presentation on the basics of NAVAIR’s technology, showcasing the broad spectrum of engineering careers essential to designing, building, and maintaining technology for the Navy. Following the presentation, students were a challenged to test their design skills in a catapult competition! Nemesis divided up into teams of three to design and build their own rudimentary catapults out of sticks, marshmallows, and masking tape.

After building, Nemesis was given a rare opportunity to tour the facilities of the Navy’s Hangar One, where the NAVAIR lab was located.The hangar itself was an engineering marvel, built on a gigantic scale, which once housed the German LZ-129 Hindenburg before it exploded during a docking incident at the facility in 1937. The team visited a scaled-down aircraft carrier runway in the hangar, and the robotics lab itself.

In the lab, Nemesis members were thrilled when the software engineers demonstrated one of their projects-- a robotic munitions cart to be used on aircraft carriers. Better yet, they even let students drive the robot and find bugs in the code! It was a remarkable insight into the work of real robotics engineers in industry, greatly appreciated by the aspiring engineers of Nemesis. Robot driver Christian Gavalchin said, “I was blown away by the familiarity of the NAVAIR lab-- it was so similar to the work we do! That was awesome to see.”

When the tours were over, the team ate lunch and launched their catapults before returning to the lab for the last activity of the day-- their own presentation! Nemesis Build Team members demonstrated their robots, Bellerophon and Daedalus, to NAVAIR Engineers, while the Marketing Team detailed the complex business and financial challenges of a successful competition season, something that that many of the engineers knew all too well from their own work.

NAVAIR employees seemed just as impressed with the accomplishments of Nemesis as the team members were with them. It was a thrilling and inspiring experience for the team, who extends their thanks to Mr. Mangano and his welcoming coworkers. Thank you to NAVAIR, for your generous sponsorship, and also your invitation to tour a real-life robotics lab! Your investment in the future will return great rewards.