Sep 20th 2011: Fall SDC Recruitment Fair
3:00 - 6:00 PM
E5 Student Design Center
Nov 12th 2011: Mini Sumo Competition
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
SDC Main Foyer
Jan 17th 2012: Winter Recruitment Fair
3:00 - 6:00 PM
SDC Main Foyer
Upcoming Events
Jun 1st 2012: University Mars Rover Challenge Final Date TBD Mars Desert Research Station
Hanksville, Utah
Jun 15th 2012: NASA Sample Return Challenge
June 15 - 18, 2012
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
We're Recruiting Again!
Our Space Robotics project (see the Space Robotics link under the current projects tab on the right for details) needs mechanically inclined folk to help design and fabricate some new chassis components. If you're interested let us know through robotics@engmail.uwaterloo.ca or stop by our work bay in E5-2003.
And as usual, we're always in need of more talented software team members to work on our core control system and algorithms including path planning, mapping, localization, and modelling and control of the vehicle system. We also have some pretty complex vision work on our hands if that's your thing.
PS: You should also stop by the SDC termly recruitment fair happening from 3:00 - 6:00 PM on Tuesday, Jan. 17 on the main floor of the SDC.
Practical Robotics Design Slides
Former team member and current Clearpath Robotics CTO Ryan Gariepy was generous enough to send us a copy of the slides used in a talk he gave to the team earlier this term, entitled "It's Almost Rocket Science - An Introduction To Developing Unmanned Vehicles".
The talk encompassed a variety of useful information ranging from advice on project management to tips on autonomous system design. Those interested can find the slides on our articles page right here.
Space Robotics Project 2011-2012
We've once again partnered with the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Lab (WAVElab) targeting two competitions in the upcoming year. The 1st being our third entry to the University Mars Rover Challenge in Utah, and the 2nd being the new NASA Sample Retrieval Challenge.
The joint project is running under the title of Space Robotics, and you can check out more information about the project right here!
Registration closes on Sept. 27th. Registered teams will then be informed via email to come to the Robotics Team Lab in E5 from Sept. 28-30 between 6pm-8pm (either Greg or Cory will be there). They will pay the $50 to Cory or Greg in person. The first 20 teams to register and pay will be able to participate in the competition.
Fall 2011 Recruitment!
Interested in joining the team? Come out to the E5 SDC student team recruitment event Tuesday, Sept. 20th from 3:00 - 6:00 PM! We'll be set up on the main floor to ensure we're easy to track down.
Also, first years and other inexperienced members are invited to check out our mini sumo competition. See the tab on the side (and do note that the dates and other info are not yet updated for 2011).
Success!
Our entry, in partnership with the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Lab (WAVE lab), to the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in Michigan placed 2nd out of 56 international teams from the US, Canada, India, Japan and UAE in the vehicle design competition placing just 4 points (out of a possible 300) behind the grand prize winner!
We also finished 4th in the competition's JAUS challenge (which requires successful implementation of an industrial caliber communications framework for autonomous vehicles), and are looking forward to a top 10 finish in the autonomous navigation challenge (results come out near the end of the month).
Our 2011 IGVC design report was recently completed and submitted. Those of you interested in the technical details of our entry can feel free to peruse it here: 2011 IGVC Report
Also, have a look at the shiny new chassis!
Summer Updates!
Our Mars Rover vehicle was recently featured in an article in a recent issue of the Imprint. Have a read right here if you're interested in what we'll be sending down to Utah in a few weeks.
We'll also be posting the design report for our entry to the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in the near future if you're looking for a bit more technical background on what the competition involves.
2011 Recruitment Fair
The Student Teams Recruitment Fair is being held today from 3-6pm in the Student Design Centre in E5. If you're interested in learning more about the team or doing some work with the team then come on out!
2011 Unveiling Event
The UW Robotics Team is proud to invite you to our 2011 unveilingevent! The event will take place Tuesday May 3rd at 5:00pm in E5-2004. The event will be showcasing the work of UWRT’s two main sub-teams, the UW Mars Rover Team and the IGVC team.
The UW Mars Rover Team will be travelling to Utah on June 2nd to compete in the University Mars Rover Challenge for the 2nd time. The competition involves constructing a Mars Rover vehicle capable of exploring the Utah desert and performing various tasks ranging from soil sample collection and analysis to a remote repair operation carried out by a custom manipulator arm.
The team will also be sending its 3rd entry to the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) held in Rochester, Michigan on June 3rd. The IGVC competition involves autonomously navigating a simulated roadway (containing a variety of obstacles, barricades, and terrain variations), as well as autonomously navigating between a series of GPS waypoints. We've been cooperating with the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory for our 3rd entry to the competition and are looking forward to our best performance yet.
We're Recruiting Software Developers!
The team is currently looking to recruit some highly motivated undergrads interested in developing high level control and AI software for our entry to the 2012 ION Autonomous Lawnmower competition in Ohio!
We're currently planning to write most of our code in Python (and perhaps some C). While no prior experience is required preferably anyone interested is already fairly well versed in both of those languages, as the software for this project will involve picking up knowledge in the fields of autonomous localization, path planning, state space control, and image processing.
For an overview of what you'd be dealing with, head over to our articles section and have a look at our software page.
Shoot us an email at robotics@engmail.uwaterloo.ca if you'd like to get involved! Remember to mention software recruitment somewhere in the subject so it gets to the right person.
Winter '11!
The coming winter term should be a busy one for everybody. We're currently looking to send three robots to competition in the spring term. An autonomous lawnmower, our third IGVC entry, and our second entry to the University Mars Rover challenge! The autonomous lawnmower project will likely be hosting weekly work session starting in the next few weeks so stay tuned.
The Mars Rover team will be holding a recruitment meeting: Jan 17th 6:30 in E5-2004
What the title says. The team will resume its regularly scheduled activities in the new year.
Sumo Competition Highlights!
The Mini Sumo competition was held this past Sunday and all teams performed admirably! We had a new record for participation with 13 teams qualifying.
The winners are as follows: 1st Place: Team Honabasho 2nd Place: Bring It Tron 3rd Place: Friction
No General Meeting This Week
As a note, there will be no general meeting this week (Nov 15th).
Sumo Competition
Is Sunday Nov 14 in RCH 302. See the date on the news sidebar. All are welcome to attend.
Sumo Competition Approaches!
Its that time of year. The competition will be held Sunday November 14th at 6:00pm in RCH 302. The final lab session will run this Tuesday from 7:30-10:30 pm in the Fred Church lab. Qualification will be held the same week at a to be determined time and location. Emails will be going out early this week as things are confirmed.
Sumo Software & Reference Code
Update: The reference code and tutorial are now online in the software section of the sumo contest page. Explanation and Q/A session will be held this Sunday at 1pm in RCH309, followed by another lab session.
The sumo contest page now includes details on the software environment you'll be using, as well as several useful tutorials (highly recommended reading). The reference code will be going up in the next few days, so keep your eyes open.
