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2024 Week 5: Team Journal

The second to last week of the Build Season has come to a close, and excitement for competitions is at an all-time high. The team has been tirelessly working to ensure that we are ready for our first district competition. 

In the past week, the business team has become one step closer to finalizing the community outreach initiatives and sponsor night preparations. The media team worked to finalize the sponsor banner, made more buttons, and worked on the business plan, all which will be showcased during our annual sponsor night. Alongside this, our logistics team worked on organizing our weekly meetings and planning our meals for the weekend. Meanwhile, the finance team was busy finalizing the business plan, working on the sponsor night presentation, working on the library demo, and working on our executive summary and press packet. Our community outreach team, alongside the finance team, worked on organizing the library demo and planning and executing our FLL interest meeting event. 


The build team spent hours in the lab prototyping and working to perfect the robot. The software team worked on coding the subsystems for the prototypes that build managed to put together. The scouting team worked on managing and expanding the scouting software for our upcoming competitions. The fabrication team worked extremely hard and efficiently to finish cutting most of the pieces for the robot, such as the climbing rails which will allow the robot to pull itself up on the chain at the end of the game. The electrical team worked to finalize the layout of the robot and mounted the electrical components. Alongside this, the electric team also successfully completed the installation of the swerve drive. The design team finally worked on finishing all of the designs that will be implemented on the robot and started to prototype backup ideas.

We are excited to see what we have in store for the next week of build season, upcoming events, and eventually competition season!

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2024 Week 4: Team Journal

Week four of the build season is complete! With just two weeks left until the competition season begins, we have eagerly prepared for our first match!

This past week, the business team worked on several tasks for the upcoming Sponsor Night and started preparations for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition. The logistics team started finding restaurants for team dinners at MAR and continued to organize meals for the build season. Media began designing a new robot trading card and continued to sort through and organize photos, utilizing our new photos to update the team’s socials. The finance team worked with the media team to design a new business plan cover. The business team as a whole has collaborated to plan our Annual Sponsor Networking Night; donors and parents are invited to the school for a presentation about the past season and plans for the new one, along with a tour of our Tech Lab.  The community outreach team organized the upcoming library demonstration and worked to ensure a successful event! Collaboratively, the business team made more buttons and updated the large showcase displays located outside the tech lab. 

More work was conducted on getting our new competition robot up and kicking on the build team’s end. This is largely due to the design team’s recent completion of the CAD for the new robot. Utilizing this, fabrication started on the key components of the robot. The electrical team designed the electric diagram of the robot. The build team also created a functional drive base for the software team to use. Thanks to this, the robot is now fully capable of driving. Furthermore, the software team gave the robot vision capabilities after spending the past two weeks working on it. The software team also discussed and finalized its code superstructure and has begun changing the subsystem to accommodate it. The team’s strategy subteam began development of this year’s scout app. Week 4 of the build season was incredibly productive for the build team, and a finished competition robot is only a few steps away. 

Overall, the team accomplished a lot this week and is excited to continue progressing through its tasks as competition season gets closer. We are eager to see what next week brings because the team has worked extremely hard to prepare for the Crescendo Competition Season.

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2024 Week 3: Team Journal

We’re halfway through the build season and Nemesis is more productive than ever! Both the build and business subteams have been preparing for the upcoming competition season, as well as the events that the team will be hosting. 

The business team has continued preparations for the competition season while also getting resources ready for the annual Sponsor Night event. Specifically, the finance team has been reconciling the bank account, finishing our 5-year business plan, and finalizing the press packet. They are also working on the executive summary to keep our sponsors up-to-date with accomplishments of the past season, as well as our goals for the future. Meanwhile, the media team has been updating the website and social media accounts, finalizing button designs, creating a new business plan cover, and taking action shots of the team. The logistics team is preparing activities for travel competitions like MAR Champs and Worlds. They are also organizing team meals for the weekends and updating the pit presentation for competitions. Finally, the community outreach team has been arranging our annual FLL Interest meeting and food drive and working on written materials and documentation for the Impact award. Simultaneously, they are working to touch base with our collaborators at the Trenton Urban Promise organization, 

The build team has also been incredibly busy, finishing prototypes and beginning work on the final robot. The software team has been rewriting code for the swerve drive, began utilizing new libraries for better subsystem code, and finalizing PhotonVision for AprilTag analysis. The electrical team is working closely with software to wire the swerve bot, as well as connecting the prototypes to circuit boards to simulate how it would work on the robot. The fabrication team is using CAD to design parts, as well as manufacturing initial parts created by the design team. Lastly, the strategy team is creating different subsystems for the robot, updating the scouting app to accommodate the new game, and working on note taking for competitions.

We can’t wait to continue this progress throughout the latter half of the build season as we have an exciting month ahead of us, prior to competition season! 
 

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2024 Week 2: Team Journal

Week two of the 2024 build season has shaped up wonderfully despite the challenges that a New Jersey snowfall put forth. Nemesis wasn’t able to be as hands-on as we would have liked, however we took advantage of the snow days to brainstorm, plan, and collaborate. 

The business team made strides in their preparations for the upcoming competition season! Specifically, the media subteam continued planning out designs of the buttons that we hand out to all the FIRST supporters. Nemesis’s annual full team photos were captured and we were ecstatic to continue this beloved tradition. The logistics subteam continued to perfect new team merchandise designs, specifically upgrading the hats with a black background and red team logo. They also ensured that the team was set for a weekend of work with team meals. The community outreach subteam worked on the new Impact award submission. Finally, the finance team spent time finishing the updates to the five year business plan.The business team as a whole has worked together to tear down and revamp our team’s showcases in the hallway; we cannot wait for a new week of progress. 

The build team continues to work diligently towards prototyping the robot. After the first week of planning and finalizing designs, the team has started polishing final components. They have been focusing on detecting the AprilTags using photonvision and have made progress in assembling the swerve modules. After experimenting with different prototypes, the build team worked on using a diversion intake/outtake which is used to score notes with the same device. Meanwhile, the rookies have been learning the process of fabrication for various custom parts. Overall, the build team is working at a good pace, and they have officially hit the one-third mark of the build season.

The team as a whole has been working hard to prepare for the upcoming competitions, and we are looking forward to a successful season ahead!

Archive

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Finalists In Florida


West Palm Beach: seventy-eight degree weather, an ocean view, and robots galore! On Wednesday, March 30th, Robbinsville High School FIRST Robotics Team Nemesis 2590 hopped on a plane and headed to the Sunshine State for the South Florida Regional.  

Proudly representing Central Jersey, Nemesis was one of sixty teams to arrive at the Palm Beach County Convention Center early Friday morning. There, an international showing of talent included teams from Turkey, the Dominican Republic, and Columbia. Team 2590 was lucky enough to play in the opening match of the competition. Their alliance scored an impressive 120 points, setting the bar high. The robot's success continued throughout the day, going undefeated throughout qualification matches and holding a strong grasp on the crucial number one ranking. Meanwhile, the Entrepreneurship Team and Pit Crew were busy in the pits conversing with judges about this year’s robot, the team’s award winning business plan, and community outreach.

Friday night, after a long, but successful day of qualification matches, Nemesis returned to the hotel to hold a crucial scouting meeting in which a list of teams was identified as potential alliance partners. Continuing their dominant performance into the final day of competition, Team 2590 held the first seed for the elimination rounds and chose to ally with Team 179, The Children of the Swamp and Team 5472, the Stallions, who had both made names for themselves in the qualification rounds.

Following alliance selection, Finance Team member Jared Glassband represented Nemesis 2590 in a friendly team mascot dodgeball game in the spirit of friendly competition. Clad in a toga to represent the Greek origins of Nemesis, he was supported not only by members of Team 2590, but by many others as well. A cheerful chant of, “Neme-sis! Neme-sis!” rang through the crowd. Of the game, Jared said, “I was impressed by the positive energy and friendly competition that I experienced not only in dodgeball, but all over the South Florida Regional. This place really has a great atmosphere.”

Returning to actual competition, as the matches wore on, Nemesis’ alliance faced some capable competitors, but was able to battle their way to the finals against the third seeded alliance: Team 1065, The Moose, Team 180, S.P.A.M, and Team 3932, The Dirty Mechanics.

The last three matches were among the most intense of the weekend. Vigorous play led to the field being damaged, which required the gameplay to stop, and the match to be discarded and reset-- not once, but twice! The third repeated match spelled disaster for our heroes. Team 5472’s robot, who played defense for the red alliance, took too many hits to its frame, and became so bent out of shape it was crippled for the remainder of the competition. Worse still, the Children of the Swamp’s robot succumbed to the increased stress of playing without a full alliance, and the sensory system fried itself completely. The game was paused while Nemesis and Swamp team members worked feverishly to repair the smoking robot. In the end, power was restored to the systems, but the dead sensors rendered the Swamp Machine blind during autonomous mode, and practically eliminated its shooting ability. As the match began, the Swamp Machine rolled to a dead stop on the field, and it didn’t move again. Battered and alone, Daedalus stood against the third seeded alliance, and were only able to score 94 points against their opponents’ combined score of 159. While Nemesis’ alliance managed to overcome adversity to take the second finals match, further technical difficulties in the deciding third finals match meant a disappointing end to Nemesis’ time in Florida.  

Nevertheless, Robbinsville was ecstatic to receive a wild card slot at World Championships, as the finalists. The team also took home the Industrial Design Award recognizing a team with an efficiently designed machine that addresses the challenge of the game effectively.

Drive Coach Parth Mandrekar reflected, “All else aside, our performance here in South Florida has been our best by far. Our high goal shooting has improved drastically, as has our autonomous mode. We will certainly be a force to be reckoned with at FIRST Mid-Atlantic Regionals and at the World Championships!”

From the opportunity to meet and compete with teams from all over the world to the chance to escape the bitter cold of the Northeast for a few days, All members of Nemesis thoroughly enjoyed the competition in Florida. Despite losing the finals, everyone is incredibly excited to compete at the World Championship in St. Louis on April 28th-30th, 2016!

Nemesis would like to thank its generous sponsors for their continued support: Robbinsville Board of Education, NAVAIR, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, NY Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Investors Bank, RAS, Robbinsville Education Association, EAG, Princeton Sports & Family Medicine, McGraw-Hill Financials, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Coldwell Banker, Carfaro Fencing, DesignTree, Triangle Copy, & GrabCad. For additional information, please contact FRC 2590 at frc2590@gmail.com.

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Nemesis Sweeps the Seneca District


After another exciting two days of competition, Robbinsville High School FIRST Robotics Team 2590 Nemesis emerged as victors at the Seneca District Event, and as proud recipients of the Engineering Inspiration Award… for the “FIRST” time in Nemesis’ eight year history! The Seneca District Event is an annual competition hosted by Team 1647, the Iron Devils, at Seneca High School. After a tough win at Hatboro-Horsham two weeks prior, the team was anxious to see if their repairs to the robot’s battered frame and intake would hold out. And they certainly did, as Nemesis’ robot, Daedalus, maintained a number one ranking throughout the Qualifying Rounds.

Meanwhile, back in the pits, the Business and Build Team members fielded questions in numerous interviews with their respective judges, seeking to win awards for their creative engineering, world-class marketing and finance strategies, and extensive community outreach efforts. The judges, who returned to speak to the team multiple times, showed a great deal of interest in Nemesis.

Of the experience, first-time Marketing Team member Sophie Billings said, “It’s not every day that you get to be a part of a team like this. Being able to say that I helped win a prestigious award like the Engineering Inspiration Award is incredible.”

During Alliance Selection, Nemesis had their pick of teams, being ranked first during qualifications. They chose FRC teams 365 and 1626, the Miracle Workerz (MOE Robotics) and Falcon Robotics, who had both demonstrated innovative designs and clever gameplay strategies earlier in the event. MOE’s robot had a remarkable high goal shooting ability, even in autonomous mode, while Falcon Robotics’ robot was capable of scaling the tower and earning a major bonus at the end of the match.

Skillfully overcoming the two alliances faced in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Nemesis’ alliance looked ahead to a tough matchup in the finals where they stood against FRC 1640 SaBOTage and their alliance partners the Titanium Knights (FRC 6203) and SRNJ Rambotics (FRC 4573). SaBOTage and their allies made a formidable trio, twice setting a new high score in the semifinal rounds. It looked to be a nail-biting finale! In the finals, which are best of three, Nemesis and the red alliance rose to the challenge and won the first round, but the blue alliance came back in round two with a win of their own. Neck and neck, the teams prepared for the tiebreaker as the spectators watched with bated breath. The red alliance triumphed! Nemesis and their partners set a new high score of 179 points in the final match of the day to take the win.

“When the final match score was displayed and finalized, I was overflowing with emotions from the excitement and anticipation of our victory to the joy of our success, and finally the pride of knowing I was involved with such a wonderful team,” enthused junior Build Team member Charlie D’Amico.

In the awards ceremony, the team was honored with the prestigious Engineering Inspiration Award by the judges that had interviewed them in the pits, to commend their success and outreach efforts in spreading engineering throughout the community. Furthermore, Team Advisor Joy Wolfe, who has been the backbone of Team 2590 since its inception, was awarded the Woodie Flowers Nomination in recognition of her work with the team and the FIRST Community. Nemesis enjoyed a joyous team dinner after the event, and looks forward to competing at their next competition, the South Florida Regional in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 31st-April 2nd. Wish them luck!

Nemesis would like to thank their sponsors: Robbinsville Board of Education, NAVAIR, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, NY Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Investors Bank, RAS, Robbinsville Education Association, EAG, Princeton Sports & Family Medicine, McGraw-Hill Financials, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Coldwell Banker, Carfaro Fencing, DesignTree, Triangle Copy, & GrabCad. For additional information, please contact FRC 2590 at frc2590@gmail.com.

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Murphy’s Law Debunked: Nemesis Wins Hatboro-Horsham Again!


A swift pass through the portcullis. A goal scored. The screeching of the drive train. The roar of the crowd. Robbinsville’s champion, Daedalus, scores a goal and starts to breach another defense when suddenly, it stops in its tracks. Team members in the stands are shocked. This is the final match of the Hatboro-Horsham District event, after two days of perseverance over countless challenges for the Robbinsville High School FIRST Robotics Team 2590 Nemesis. Narrowly surviving into the quarter-finals, fiercely overcoming the first seeded alliance in the semi-finals, and splitting the first two final matches until this ultimate battle for the crown, the team isn’t prepared to surrender easily. 10 seconds left. Still no activity. The Drive Team is pursuing all options to revitalize the robot. Refreshing the code, resetting the encoders, healing potions, nothing works. 5 seconds. Just as suddenly as its stagnation, Daedalus springs back to life and smoothly drifts onto the batter, earning last-minute points, shaking the gymnasium with applause. Nemesis, along with its alliance partners Captain FRC Team 1218 Vulcan Robotics and FRC Team 5407 Wolfpack, has won the Hatboro-Horsham District Event for the 4th consecutive year. Inconceivable!

FIRST’s game for the 2016 season, Stronghold, basing itself on heavy medieval influences, splits a field in half for each alliance of three teams and features motif-fitting game pieces. Teams breach portcullises, gates, and moats to enter their opponent’s courtyard and launch 10-inch diameter foam balls into either low or high goals to capture the enemy tower and win the match. Alliances earn increased points when scoring a high goal due to its heightened difficulty. Each match starts with a 15-second autonomous period, wherein robots are solely controlled by pre-programmed code rather than remote human operation.

Daedalus, Nemesis’s latest robot, was designed to address as many aspects of Stronghold as possible while retaining a focused plan. Build Team members opted to construct this year’s robot with an offensive strategy in mind.

Grappling with Daedalus’s main feature- its articulating shooter and intake- falling apart after nearly every match, it appeared that everything that could go wrong, went wrong. In an attempt to repair the multitude of small yet collectively destructive problems, the Build Team completely dismantled and reassembled Daedalus in under two hours.

With time running low, Nemesis put Humpty Daedalus back together and out on the field, hoping to recover from the previous losses. The impromptu repair session yielded positive results almost immediately, increasing the point output and number of high goals scored, yet not enough to pick up the distance between Nemesis and the top eight teams who would later become alliance captains. Unfortunately, instead, the team fell from 13th place to 15th place to 22nd place just in time for alliance selection. The team remained optimistic, a sentiment paying off when they were the first pick of the fourth-seeded alliance.

Behind the scenes, the Software Team entered a frenzy from the first match, attempting to reform the glitch-prone code in time for Daedalus’s next showing. During the autonomous period, the robot consistently crossed into the opponent’s courtyard successfully under the low bar obstacle, but failed to score with similar consistency. Upon resolving one problem, another promptly appeared in the ensuing match. However, much like the Build Team, Nemesis’ Software Team executed a complete overhaul of the code. By quarter-finals, within the autonomous period, Daedalus not only swept the enemy defenses, but also scored the coveted and punishing high goal, effectively laying the groundwork for the Drive Team’s triumphs later in each match. The revised code played an essential role in establishing a strong point lead over opponents early.

Although the Build and Software Teams may have experienced a much more exhilarating event, the business side of Nemesis did not walk away empty-handed. The team’s Chief Financial Officer Colin Riley became a Dean’s List Finalist, recognizing his efforts in exemplifying the core values of FIRST and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics). Additionally, the team was honored with the Quality Award, recognizing their robust robot design and construction. 

Few times in Nemesis’s admittedly short history have there been such an emotional rollercoaster as this past weekend at the annual FIRST Mid-Atlantic Hatboro-Horsham District Event. A story befitting the medieval legends its central game was based on, Nemesis rose to the challenge and overcame considerable obstacles on and off the field, despite facing difficulty at nearly every turn. While it seemed that every facet of the event possible of going wrong did, in fact go wrong, Nemesis and its alliance partners stuck the battle out to its victorious end.

Next, Nemesis will be competing at the Seneca District Event on March 19-20th. Nemesis would like to thank their sponsors: Robbinsville Board of Education, NAVAIR, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, NY Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Investors Bank, RAS, Robbinsville Education Association, EAG, Princeton Sports & Family Medicine, McGraw-Hill Financials, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Coldwell Banker, Carfaro Fencing, DesignTree, Triangle Copy, & GrabCad. For additional information please  contact Team Advisor Joy Wolfe at wolfe@robbinsville.k12.us.

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"Investing" in the Future


On Tuesday, February 23, Nemesis members proudly accepted a generous $2,500 donation from the local branch of Investors Bank, who were eager to support the team. As competition season rapidly approaches, FRC Team 2590 continues to search near and far for financial cooperation in their ambitious venture. Finance Team member Jarelle Boac recently  cold-called Investors Bank and CFO Colin Riley followed up by applying directly for a grant from Investors Foundation. After this, the team was ecstatic to see an email from Investors, promising sponsorship and asking to arrange an official check presentation with the team.

The team sprung into action, quickly arranging the meeting. With the help of  dedicated parents and mentors, four team members (Marketing Director Laura Quon, CFO Colin Riley, Jarelle, and Marketing Team member Nick Anderson) met at Investor’s Bank promptly after school. The group received a warm welcome and met with the team’s new sponsors. The people of Investors Bank were more than happy to offer support to Nemesis.

While it is often unmentioned, this process of reaching out to sponsors and quickly reacting to positive responses, no matter when they may arrive, is something the Marketing and Finance Teams must do regularly. Similar to the real world of business, team members must rely on their own sense of judgment and initiative to make quick decisions, a skill that many members have refined greatly in their time with the team. It certainly pays to “run the team like a business!”

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2016 Week 5: Build Journal


With Build Season coming to a close, the Build Team is working around the clock to finalize designs and finish fabricating parts. All of the designs have been finished and the team is working to assemble and test the robot mechanisms.

For week 5 the team was focused on fabricating the drivetrain, shooter, and intake parts. All pieces of the robot were machined by students using the school’s CNC Mill and CNC Router.  Not only was this week spent advancing robot production, but also teaching underclassman how to use these machines. Upon completion of fabricating the parts, the practice robot began to be assembled. With testing, the team began tweaking and further improving the design.    

The Software Team is working diligently to tackle various autonomous routines and better understand vision processing. Meanwhile, the Electronics Team fitted the assembled drive train with electronics.

For week 6, our team hopes to finish assembling and fine tune the robot. Everyone is looking forward to the final push before the bag and tag.  

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2016 Week 5: Marketing Journal


Week five of the 2016 build season was yet another great week of accomplishments for Nemesis! Emerging from yet another very successful Sponsor Networking Night -- that the entire team spent the first four weeks of build season preparing for-- the business team felt a well deserved wave of relief immediately followed by an increased concentration and focus on the upcoming competition season. The Finance Team worked on finishing the business plan which will be presented to judges at competitions and will serve as the basis for our team to compete the Entrepreneurship Award. Meanwhile, the Marketing Team wrote and mailed thank you notes to the generous parents and sponsors who supported the team with donations and “sorry we missed you cards” with information about Sponsor Networking Night to those who missed the event.

Marketing also worked on designing apparel for the team to wear throughout the upcoming competition season, as well as writing articles to promote the team's community outreach programs. The Logistics Team is still hard at work continuing to arrange travel for our upcoming trips to South Florida, and hopefully St. Louis.   

Another exciting development in the Robbinsville High School Tech Lab was the creation of the first 3-D printed hand for our partnership with e-NABLE. With them, Nemesis plans to donate prosthetic hands to those in need.

The Marketing and Finance Teams are very excited to see the robot that the Build Team has been working on for the past six long weeks and that the Marketing Team will be writing, promoting, and talking about for the next year.

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Nemesis Lends a Hand


By: Melinda Beyer & Nicholas Began

In a heart-warming fusion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and charity, FIRST Robotics Team Nemesis 2590 has partnered with e-NABLE, an organization of countless volunteers whose mission is to build and distribute 3D-printed prosthetic hands to those in need.

Ivan Owan founded e-NABLE in 2011, after he posted a video on Youtube about his cosplay metal hand for a science-fiction convention. The video reached a South African carpenter named Richard Van As, who had lost his fingers in a woodworking accident. Despite the 10,000 miles between them, the pair began to communicate, sending each other prototypes constructed from materials found around their houses over the internet. Enabling The Future gathered a following and the organization was born.

The 3D-printed hands provide an affordable option for many families for whom prosthetics are financially out of reach.

Harrison Young, a Nemesis alumnus, spearheaded the initiative to use the team's skills in MakerBot technology to create 3D-printed hands for the life-changing organization. Exuberance flooded the Technology Lab when our first hand was finally complete. Word of the prosthetic hand spread like wildfire and many students not involved with Nemesis visited the Technology Lab to see the source of all the excitement. The entire Robbinsville High School community was delighted to see one of their own creating such an impact.

Through this partnership with e-NABLE, the team spreads the STEAM message while emphasizing the importance of altruism and service. Nemesis plans to continue working with e-NABLE to better the lives of those in need.  


If you are interested in supporting Nemesis or e-NABLE, please contact our Team Advisor Joy Wolfe at wolfe@robbinsville.k12.nj.us.

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2016 Week 4: Build Journal


As week 4 is coming to a close and the competition season is just around the corner, the build team's productivity levels are still going strong. As prototyping is officially over, most of the build team has started to work on the final robot. We are working wholeheartedly to make sure that the robot will be completed in time to ensure our drivers get to practice before bag and tag.

This week we worked on milling the final parts of the drivetrain. The exec team is evaluating their options for the electrical board and requirements for the drivetrain.

The complex game obstacles are giving us a run for our money. The intake and shooter have final designs and have been tested on a practice bot.

During Week 4, everyone, from freshmen to seniors, was hard at work developing the robot.

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2016 Competition Dates


Build season is coming to a close, and competition season is right around the corner. Nemesis invites you to come to any of the free high energy tournaments the team will be competing in...

Hatboro-Horsham District Competition: March 5 - 6, 2016

Hatboro-Horsham High School

899 Horsham Rd, Horsham, PA 19044

Seneca District Competition: March 19 - 20, 2016

Seneca High School

110 Carranza Rd, Tabernacle, NJ 08088

2016 South Florida Regional: April 1 - 2, 2016

Palm Beach Convention Center

650 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

We hope to qualify for:

FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship: April 14 – 16, 2016

Stabler Arena, Lehigh University

124 Goodman Dr, Bethlehem, PA 18015

2016 FIRST Championship: April 28 - 30, 2016

Edward Jones Dome

901 N Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63101

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2016 Week 4: Marketing Journal


Week 4 of Build Season can be described by one word for the Business Team: Perfection! Nemesis’ Annual Sponsor Networking Night was held on Wednesday, February 3rd. Weeks of preparation went into ensuring this evening was a huge success. This week Business Team members mentored the Build Team members in public speaking and presenting, ensuring that they would uphold Nemesis’ reputation for excellence.

Nemesis presented their successful 2015 season and this year’s progress to the team's previous and potential sponsors along with team parents. Assemblyman and avid Nemesis supporter Dan Benson tweeted, “Great job by everyone tonight! Awesome challenge ahead, confident you're up to the task!”   Many of the sponsors and parents complimented team members for their organization, professionalism, and poise. Nemesis is incredibly grateful to all of their sponsors.

In other news, the week was spent finishing up the Chairman’s Award, the Woodie Flowers Award, and the Entrepreneurship Award. The team really came together to get it all done!

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Sponsor Networking Event 2016


With the commotion of the 2016 FIRST Robotics build season at an all time high, Robbinsville High School’s (RHS) Robotics Team Nemesis FRC 2590, held their annual Sponsor Networking Night on Wednesday, February 3rd to demonstrate their gratuity and appreciation for their generous sponsors and parents. The evening showcased Nemesis’ culture, the 2015 season, and a look towards 2016. Chief Financial Officer Colin Riley and Chief Operations Officer Juhi Rajgopal gave a presentation familiarizing sponsors with the team’s financial status. Meanwhile, in the RHS Technology Lab, Senior Build Executive/Drive Coach Parth Mandrekar and Safety Captain Charlie D’Amico educated attendees on the 2016 FRC Challenge, FIRST Stronghold and on the progress and design of the 2016 robot.

Following the presentation, Mr. Gaetan Mangano of NAVAIR announced, “I was blown away by how well-organized and thoughtful this event was. I’m incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm everyone has shown on this team.”

The Marketing Team coached Build Team members on public speaking and presentation skills ensuring they uphold Nemesis’ reputation for excellence. The hours dedicated to preparing for Sponsor Networking Night paid off. The evening was an unquestionable success.

Robbinsville Town Council member Dan Schuberth was beyond impressed by Nemesis, “I wanted to thank you for the warm welcome and wonderful presentation at Wednesday evening's event. I was so impressed by the organization, professionalism, and passion demonstrated by every single person I met. You folks have built a powerhouse organization, and I am confident that you'll be successful in this year's challenge.”

For new team members this is an event like nothing they have experienced before. Freshman Marketing Team member Ethan Silberberg gives an impeccable description of his participation in Sponsor Networking Night, “It was amazing to talk to successful business executives and have them recognize us as a force to be reckoned with.”

Nemesis’ 2016 Sponsor Networking Night was a success, which can be attributed to all of the sponsors and parents and their continued belief in Nemesis.  For that, Nemesis would like to give a special thanks to: Robbinsville High School, Navair, New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CCL Label, Lockheed Martin, Investors Bank, Siemens, Robbinsville Education Association, RAS Process Equipment, Evans Analytical Group, Princeton Sports and Family Medicine, The McGraw Hill Financials, Carfaro, Robbinsville Education Foundation, Gilbane, Designtree, Northstar Vets, SRI International, Triangle Copy, Coldwell Banker, as well as the Friends and Family of Nemesis.

If you are interested in supporting Nemesis or would like additional information, please contact Team Advisor Joy Wolfe at wolfe@robbinsville.k12.us.

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2016 Week 3: Build Journal


As we close out the first half of build season, we come closer to our final design. Prototyping is almost finished for the main systems. Meanwhile, various groups for smaller subsystems are working feverishly. Small adjustments are all that’s left to do on the intake and shooter. The CAD team is finished with our drivetrain and we have begun to mill the parts.

For the past week, we have been prototyping and developing a multitude of devices to get through the defences, trying to combine multiple subsystems into one to save space and weight. Plans have changed several times to make the intake work.

We have a mostly finished prototype that our driver is currently testing. So far we have been successful in crossing the different terrain types. Still up, getting through the doors and gates. Once we have a successful prototype which can do that we will have a finished prototype robot.

We have had a few minor setbacks, including a blizzard, but that has not slowed down our progress. Thanks to GrabCad, our team was able to work in and out of our Tech Lab. The CAD is nearly complete and our team is running the mill whenever possible in this race against the clock. Once the frame is milled and assembled we can work towards adding subsystems to our robot. With the team entering the second half of build season we can only guess what will happen. Hopefully week 4 can as productive as the previous weeks have been.

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2016 Week 3: Marketing Journal


It's hard to believe week three is already coming to a close! All week, the Marketing Team has scrambled to add the finishing touches for its annual Sponsor Networking Night! Ribbon and other decorative touches were added to the recently updated showcase, making it appear more beautiful than ever. New pictures were printed and added to the Chairman’s board to showcase all we have done since the past season when the judges last laid eyes on it. Our business plan and Chairman's Award submissions have come a long way recently, in preparation for their due date later this week. Meanwhile, the Finance Team busied themselves contacting current and potential sponsors via cold calls and emails.

The Sponsor Networking Night presentation was completed and is now ready for sponsor viewing. Additionally, our Web Team took official photographs of each subteam along with diligently working on the script for this year’s Chairman's Award video. The Logistics Team had their work cut out for them while continuing to book travel information for our upcoming trips to South Florida, and hopefully St. Louis.

Girls on the team had an especially exciting week filled with a trip to the spa alongside a few of our team mentors. They also visited the NARS makeup counter at Lord & Taylor where they all had their makeup done by professional makeup artists to give our girls a fresh new look in preparation for Sponsor Night.

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2016 Week 2: Marketing Journal


Woah! Week 2 of build season has already reached an end and the marketing team had their work cut out for them!  Everyone on the marketing team continued to work countless hours to put the finishing touches on our annual sponsor night event, which is next Wednesday, February 3. Invitations have been sent out and now we patiently wait for the responses from our generous sponsors. Our beautiful showcase in the main hallway of the high school is finally up to date and we couldn't be happier. Logistics is currently finalizing our trips to South Florida and St.Louis for competition season travel.  Finance is working vigorously on updating our business plan as well as overseeing invitation responses.  Meanwhile, the sponsor PowerPoint is being perfected and polished to ensure our sponsors are up to date and fully aware of all our 2015 successes and our plans for the 2016 season.

Next on our agenda is to coach our build members on the current FAQs and prepare the whole team for sponsor night, ensuring that the team can present themselves in a professional and polished manor. All in all, this week has been yet another success on the Marketing side of Nemesis, and we can not wait to see what the third week brings us.

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