Nemesis team members Karla Dimatulac and Baljot Ranu stand on the playing field with Sarah Sully (center) from FIRST Team 11 on Oct. 12, 2013. (Photo by Stephanie Kovacs.)
Robbinsville High School FIRST robotics team members Deanna Gavlick, Mehaa Gupta and Karla Dimatulac at the drivers’ station on Oct. 12, 2013. (Photo by Thomas Young.)
After a summer of working on a new robot, Robbinsville High School’s robotics team entered their first off-season competition.
Team Nemesis built a second competition robot for the game Ultimate Ascent, a challenge in which robots aim to shoot plastic discs through targets of varying heights and then climb a metal pyramid. While the team’s first robot, Athena, scoops up the disks off the field and shoots them straight into the top-scoring goal, the second robot is equipped with a full-court shooter.
On Oct. 12, while many RHS students were preparing for homecoming, the team traveled to St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Flourtown, Pa. for GirlPOWER. This competition required completely female drive teams and pit crews.
Nemesis’ new robot made its competition debut during the qualification matches. With the help of both robots, the team claimed second seed and chose Team 11 MORT from Mount Olive to join their alliance for elimination rounds.
The two teams moved through to the finals undefeated.
In the finals, best two out of three rounds determined the victors of GirlPOWER 2013. With one win already, Nemesis and MORT needed one more to clinch the crown.
With the sound of the buzzer, 11 disks autonomously launched into the highest goal, the robots relying on their pre-programmed instructions for the first 15 seconds of the match. When it came time for the drivers to set up, Athena and MORT dashed off to collect disks. Meanwhile, the full court shooter set up camp at the other end of the field, shooting disks into the highest goal.
Nemesis and MORT scored more than 100 points and were named champions.
However, the day wasn’t over yet. The team rushed back to Robbinsville, exchanged their t-shirts for dresses and celebrated their victory at the homecoming dance.
Nemesis’ next competition is Brunswick Eruption, scheduled to being 8 a.m. Nov. 9 at North Brunswick High School. Admission is free.
More information is online at frc2590.org.
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