Newsletter

Hocki: A New Kind of BattleBot

by Dallas Downing. The goal in combat robot competitions is to make a weaponized robot that can either destroy its competition or demonstrate enough control and aggression to make it

Profiles in Presidency: Joe Spall and Alex Field

by Jonathan Spalten. With a new generation of leadership coming in to take the helm, we here at the Alumni Newsletter wanted to take a look back at previous leaders

RoboJackets Alumni Association

by Sarah Storer. RoboJackets has been growing in size and complexity over the last decade. Because of the flourishing membership we’ve also had success with alumni retention: “old people” who

Elections

by Kyla Qi. Every year around late March, RoboJackets elects a new group of core officers. This is a great opportunity for passionate members to identify themselves and be identified

Moving the Student Competition Center

by Dallas Downing. When RoboJackets was founded in 2000, it was a handful of students making combat robots in the basement of the Howey Physics Building. Today RoboJackets has grown

A Look at URC: RoboJackets’s Newest Competition

by Jonathan Spalten. RoboJackets has a wide berth of competitions its members participate in. In an effort to broaden our horizons further, RoboNav has made the decision to participate in

Spotlight on IT and Web Dev: MyRoboJackets and More

by Kyla Qi. RoboJackets might be mainly focused on robotics, but there’s a lot of administrative work that goes into running such a large organization. Dues payments must be recorded,

The Computer Vision and Perception Techniques of the Autonomous Teams

by Evan Bretl. One of the most critical functions of any autonomous vehicle is the ability to perceive its environment. Much of a typical robotics technology stack (mapping, planning, motion

RoboJackets, Inc.

by Jonathan Spalten. RoboJackets is an organization that participates in a wide range of robotics competitions, and as a result, has a tremendous need for financial resources. These resources are

FRC Kickoff 2021

by Kyla Qi. A core part of the RoboJackets mission is to support local K-12 robotics programs. Since 2008, a major part of the support we provide has been hosting

PCB Competition

by Joe Spall. Over the course of winter break, a few of our members participated in an internal Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Design Competition, organized by a few of our

Shop Rehab Day

by Cameron Loyd. Just after finals ended last semester, a small team of our members dedicated some of their free days to cleaning, organizing, and improving our space in the

RoboCup’s Transition to ROS

by Evan Bretl. Our RoboCup team is in the middle of a major software re-organization, re-writing key parts of their software stack in order to leverage ROS 2. What is

RoboRacing – January 2021 Update

by Evan Bretl. Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, RoboRacing has continued to move forward on its goals and invest in the future of the team. Both the

A member poses with the completed Swervi test rig

RoboNav – January 2021 Update

by Dallas Downing. The RoboNav team saw many changes in 2020. The spring semester saw the completion of the third iteration of Jessiii, the robot designed for IGVC (read more

RoboCup – January 2021 Update

by Kyla Qi. This semester saw a lot of progress for our RoboCup team. The international competition of the same name in which they compete is still on for 2021,

RoboWrestling – January 2021 Update

by Joe Spall. RoboJackets has participated in autonomous and RC Sumo competitions in California and Japan in the past as part of BattleBots. This semester RoboJackets has formed a separate

BattleBots – January 2021 Update

by Jonathan Spalten. Aside from the new member 2 lb program in Battlebots that we covered in our December issue, Battlebots subteams work on a variety of larger bots. This

RoboResearch Volume 3

by Jonathan Spalten. Another newsletter; another opportunity to feature RoboJackets members who take part in robotics or robotics-adjacent research at the Institute. This month, like the last two, we’ll be

The Development of the RoboCup Electrical Stack

by Dallas Downing. RoboCup is an international, annual convention meant to promote robotics research through a number of robot-based competitions. The primary goal of RoboCup is to field a team

Two members participating in machine training

Discipline Cores and their Purpose in RoboJackets

by Jonathan Spalten. In general, each RoboJackets Team is divided up into 3 subteams, organized based on their discipline: mechanical, electrical, and software. This enables the teams to divide and

2 lber Program Update

by Jonathan Spalten. Many BattleBots alumni will remember the 3lber program, the new member training project in which new members break into teams and work together to make a 3lb

RoboCup Internal Meet & Greet

by James Reed. For many RoboJackets members the organization not only brings the opportunity to design and build awesome robots, but also creates an important space to make friends with

New Member Training

by Jonathan Spalten Participating in RoboJackets involves a great deal of hands-on engineering knowledge and an intense desire to learn. Because RoboJackets accepts members regardless of prior experience in robotics,

RoboJackets Team Socials

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

RoboResearch: Volume Two

by Jonathan Spalten. Another newsletter brings us another opportunity to feature RoboJackets members who take part in robotics or robotics-adjacent research at the Institute. Just as we did last month,

IGVC Retrospective

by Dallas Downing The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) was started in 1993 as a spin off of the International Aerial Robotics Competition. The goal of the competition was to

RoboJackets IT and the People Counter System

by James Reed With an organization as large as RoboJackets, it's no surprise that we face many challenges associated with simply keeping the organization running smoothly. Thankfully, we have talented

Group call as part of leadership retreat

Virtual Leadership Retreat

Every year at the beginning of the Fall semester, our leadership team for the coming school year meet at what we have come to call the Leadership Retreat. They use

Virtual Recruiting Efforts

The lifeblood of RoboJackets that enables us to fulfill our mission to promote, educate, and advance in the field of robotics is, of course, our members. Every year, we dedicate

Georgia FIRST Symposium

RoboJackets Outreach works closely with Georgia FIRST, a branch of the international FIRST organization that organizes robotics competitions for students from kindergarten to high school. One of the premier FIRST

RoboResearch: Volume One

As part of RoboJackets, our members gain skills that serve them well in a variety of contexts, and academic research is no exception. We’d like to take this opportunity to

RoboRacing – evGrand Prix and Rigatoni

RoboRacing, our team focused on autonomous racing robots, has been making platforms of various shapes and sizes over the 6 years since its inception. Initially formed to compete in the

RoboJackets volunteering at an FRC event

Restructuring Outreach

The ultimate goal of RoboJackets is threefold: promotion, education and advancement of robotics. We, as an organization, are well equipped to do all three, and our structure should be equipped

Safely Reopening the SCC

When campus was shut down late spring semester, so too were all RoboJackets activities. Even our members who remained in the Atlanta area were barred from campus until a concrete

Introducing Aimi: A RoboJackets Hobby Project

All of the robots in RoboJackets are built to solve a competition problem statement: knock a robot out of the ring, play soccer, navigate off-road, destroy another robot, or race

Introducing the RoboWrestling Robots

RoboJacket’s newest team, RoboWrestling, participates in autonomous robotic sumo competitions, typically held in Tokyo, Japan. The goal of this competition, as is the case with real sumo wrestling, is to

Meet the Project Managers & Outreach Chair: Interview Feature

RoboJackets (often abbreviated RJ) is an organization that manages to participate in a myriad of robotics competitions and activities to further our mission to promote, educate, and advance the field

RoboJackets by the Numbers

RoboJackets is a prolific competitive robotics organization with a twenty-one-year-long history. In that time, we’ve grown from a small group of passionate students that wanted to build a combat robot

RoboNav – August Spotlight

RoboNav, formerly referred to as IGVC, is taking its drivetrain in a bold new (omni) direction. A typical IGVC robot in RoboJackets has two powered wheels and a caster to

RoboJackets and Thunderbots pose together after a match

RoboCup – August Spotlight

RoboCup, the international competition centered around autonomous soccer, is an excellent opportunity for roboticists across the world to meet and collaborate. Our RoboCup team is taking that opportunity to collaborate

RoboRacing – August Spotlight

RoboRacing, the RoboJackets team dedicated to autonomous racing, is participating in a new competition this year: evGrand Prix. RoboRacing has participated in the International Autonomous Robot Racing Challenge and at

BattleBots – August Spotlight

Last year in BattleBots, one of the large bots that participated in the hobbyweight (12 lb weight limit) division at Motorama was Apachi, an experimental bent-bar spinner with a shuffler-style

RoboWrestling – August Spotlight

RoboJackets has been participating in sumo robotics competitions for six years, starting with two remote-controlled sumo robots at RoboGames 2015 as a part of BattleBots. Since then, our sumo team

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