by Jonathan Spalten.
RoboJackets places robotics as the focus of our endeavors, but sometimes it pays to slow down and give our members a chance to get to know each other better in a non-engineering context. Many alumni will remember general meetings, in which the entire team comes together either to hear a presentation given by a professor about an engineering topic or an inter-team hangout session, featuring multiplayer games like Rocket League, karaoke, or board games.
More recently, these meetings have evolved and individual teams have had their own social events, including the aforementioned activities. Due to COVID restrictions, these events have all shifted online. The most recent socials have been hosted by BattleBots, RoboWrestling, and RoboCup. For the people who show up, they find a good time playing games like those in Jackbox party packs, Among Us, and plenty of laughs. It’s also a good way to get to know new and old members, as Afshan Chandani from BattleBots highlights: “It was a fun way to meet the new members who joined this year and hang out with all of the returning members who I hadn’t seen in a while.”
Please note: The photograph used for this article was taken in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.