Rapid React Kicks Off the New Season!

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!