History

Our Mission Statement

• To create an effective robot while being environmentally friendly and beneficial to the community

• To improve from year to year and host a program recognized in the community for its service and potential

• To exhibit and spread the message of Coopertition™ and Gracious Professionalism™ throughout the school

• To create a professional and fulfilling environment where students interact graciously despite differences.

• To use innovative programs and fundraisers to spread awareness of FIRST throughout the community.

Team 2191 was founded in the 2006-2007 school year by Mr. Scott Innocenzi, a technology teacher at Nottingham High School in Hamilton, NJ.

Upon its foundation, Team 2191 attracted about 30 members. Although a Rookie in FRC, ranking 51 in Qualifying Matches, Team 2191 was picked by an alliance of teams 177 and 223 to proceed to Quarter Finals of Rack 'N' Roll. The alliance made it to Semi-Finals before it was eliminated. The team won the Rookie Inspiration Award this year.

The 2007-2008 season was a crucial year for the team to gain its footing in the FIRST world. For the second ear, the team managed to procure a donation from NASA to participate in the competition. After a too-short and sleepless build season, the team attended Overdrive with pride and confidence. Its members were still learning the basics of physics, however, and faced a problem with top-heaviness. The biggest success of the team's 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition was when the drivers were able to pick the robot up after falling mid-match; and the team ranked 24 in Qualifying Matches. The team also learned a valuable lesson in Gracious Professionalism after accidentally destroying another team's drive train due to excessive pinning of that robot. In future years, pinning would rightfully be strictly limited.

The 2008-2009 season was a year characterized by extensive Going Green initiatives. The team actively collected aluminum cans and soda tabs for recycling and the Ronald Macdonald House Charity. The team also set in motion a plan to recycle the competition's practice Regolith, which acted at the arena floor. The team received a grant to place a solar panel on the roof of the Technology Department. At the New Jersey Regional, the team was moderately successful in Lunacy, primarily playing defense for a third consecutive year. Here, Team 2191 learned to avoid common ball bins, in which several balls might become stuck in one feeder.

In the 2009-2010 season, Breakaway, Team 2191 learned the value of communication, after an embarassing loss of two full weeks of the build season to an obsolete design. The team, after placing 51 in the New Jersey Regional, resolved to never again use chain and to always (K.I.S.S.):

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.

2010-2011, Logo-Motion, was an enormously successful year for Team 2191, which placed 14 in Qualifying Matches and was captain of the 8th Alliance in the Quarter Finals. The build season ran smoothly, overlooking programming deficiencies due to too few experienced programmers. The robot itself was built to be both strong and functional, and by its final match was able to place full logos on the pegs. This was the team's first use of omni-wheels. In this season, the team started three new fundraisers: Flamingo Flocking, Carnation Sales, and the Freshman Sophomore Social. The season ended in the team's highest ranking in its history, with a surplus of funds. This was the first year Team 2191 decided to participate in off-season events.