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Newsletter Archive
Below are previous newsletter stories from months past. Enjoy!
Summer 2023
By Cameron Loyd and Jonathan Spalten It’s been several long years since RoboWrestling has gone to competition, but the time Read more
By Brad Geving President: Priyanka Rajan Priyanka is a 3rd-year Computer Science major. She has been an active member of Read more
By Cameron Loyd This year for the first time, the RoboJackets BattleBots team competed in the National Havoc Robot League Read more
March 2023
Every year for RoboCup, all teams must qualify to participate. This is no different for this year! The requirements for Read more
Earlier this year, the RoboRacing project manager, Megan Huang, reached out to the director of Purdue Motorsports after he had Read more
Every year in January, RoboJackets plays an instrumental role in hosting the kickoff for the FIRST Robotics Challenge, the event Read more
January 2023
RoboNav has been exploring many design options as they build the software, firmware, and mechanical foundations for their new competition, Read more
One of the most direct ways RoboJackets can promote robotics is by presenting our projects to a general audience. RoboJackets Read more
Year after year, RoboJackets members continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in competition robotics. The latest iteration Read more
RoboRacing has been working on an autonomous go-kart since 2019 and have learned and iterated on every aspect of their Read more
December 2022
September 2022
Every year, BattleBots works on a great number of robots, ranging from the fleet of 3lbers that the new members Read more
Two years ago, RoboNav began their long-term plan to move away from the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) and instead Read more
Every year, RoboJackets reserves a lecture hall in Howey to host General Interest meetings, where new students at Georgia Tech Read more
Every year, each of the teams has elections for our new Project Managers. They help guide the teams to work Read more
The Leadership retreat was a tradition that began in 2015, involving the president, secretary, and leadership team. Today, the leadership Read more
July 2022
Phillip recently moved from El Segundo, California, to Seattle, Washington, where he is currently helping open a second office as Read more
This past May RoboRacing attended evGrand Prix Autonomous 2022, our second entrance into the competition. The team’s first entrance to Read more
Some alumni may remember that RoboJackets has brought combat robots and RoboRacing robots, including Bigoli, out to Colorado to compete Read more
May 2022
RoboJackets has a long history of involving its members in events beyond their weekly meetings. These have manifested as General Read more
One of the bigger competitions the BattleBots subteam has attended over the years has been Motorama, a car show in Read more
With the spring 2022 semester drawing to a close, the next core leadership team has been elected for the 2022-23 Read more
March 2022
RoboNav’s shift from IGVC to URC prompted the team to focus on finding solutions to new tasks requiring the robot to manipulate different objects such as rocks, tools and even
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Occasionally, RoboJackets officers will have to leave their position in the organization, often due to internships or study abroad opportunities that would limit their ability to perform their duties as
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Over the years, RoboJackets has developed processes to support our primary mission of promoting, educating, and advancing robotics. From training to purchasing, these support processes impact members in quiet ways
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One of the central tenets of RoboJackets as a student organization is our commitment to promoting robotics. One of the best ways to do that is to engage students in
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December 2021
The robots made by RoboJackets for combat robotics are small and heavily armored, which prevent having a display or interface Read more
While promoting STEM education and career opportunities through tabling at events is a large part of RoboJackets outreach, so is Read more
Meeting with and educating K-12 students about STEM and career opportunities in STEM is an important component of RoboJackets Outreach. Read more
Every year in the BattleBots subteam of RoboJackets, newly recruited RoboJackets form into small teams to work together to design Read more
November 2021
This month, we’re reviving a series of articles we started last year: RoboResearch. RoboResearch seeks to highlight students in RoboJackets Read more
Gender diversity is a serious issue in STEM, and even more so in the fields that robotics discipline draws upon. Read more
This Fall, RoboJackets elected to do a major restructuring of the space in the RoboJackets shop. The major restructuring was Read more
October 2021
With the start of the new school year comes the annual RoboJackets General Interest meetings. The two identical information sessions Read more
by Jonathan Spalten Another month, another alumni for us to spotlight. This month, we’ll be shining the spotlight on an Read more
by Dallas Downing September marked the first time that RoboRacing attended evGrandPrix, an electric go kart racing competition hosted at Read more
by Jonathan Spalten The primary activities in RoboJackets are those associated with building robots, educating our members and promoting robotics Read more
September 2021
by Dallas Downing The Alumni Association is a recent addition to the RoboJackets organizations and is a great way for Read more
by Jonathan Spalten This month, we have another alumni we’d like to spotlight: Ryo Osawa. Ryo was at Georgia Tech Read more
by Joe Spall This September, RoboJackets will be participating in our first entry of evGrand Prix Autonomous, the go-kart scaled Read more
August 2021
by Cameron Loyd Last August, the very first RoboJackets alumni newsletter was sent out. Since then, it’s been a great Read more
by Jonathan Spalten The main challenge of combat robots is designing and manufacturing a robust robot that can withstand the Read more
by Jonathan Spalten Once again, we’d like to shine the spotlight on another alumnus this month to check in after Read more
by Kyla Qi RoboCup 2021 took place from June 21st to the 27th this year. After several hard fought matches, Read more
July 2021
RoboJackets alumni go on to a wide variety of accomplishments after their time in RoboJackets, but we always hope they Read more
Managing sponsorships is an important part of the responsibilities of RoboJackets leadership. Sponsors provide funds, parts, and oftentimes jobs to Read more
RoboJackets has returned to competition once again! Our RoboNav team took on the 28th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) Read more
June 2021
by Kyla Qi Core officer elections have come and gone, but our core leaders aren’t the only elected positions in Read more
by Dallas Downing Every year RoboJackets gains over one hundred new members, all with varying degrees of experience with robotics. Read more
by Jonathan Spalten A major part of BattleBots, the subteam of RoboJackets dedicated to creating combat robots, is the 3lber Read more
May 2021
by Dallas Downing. With the spring semester coming to an end, a new class of leaders have been elected for Read more
by Jonathan Spalten. A big part of RoboJackets is ensuring that new members are able to contribute in meaningful ways Read more
by Evan Bretl. RoboRacing is preparing their newest and fastest robot, Rigatoni, for the evGrandPrix Autonomous Series event this September. Read more
by Kyla Qi. At the end of each semester, usually on Reading Day, RoboJackets hosts a cookout social. The tradition Read more
April 2021
by Dallas Downing. The goal in combat robot competitions is to make a weaponized robot that can either destroy its Read more
by Jonathan Spalten. With a new generation of leadership coming in to take the helm, we here at the Alumni Read more
by Sarah Storer. RoboJackets has been growing in size and complexity over the last decade. Because of the flourishing membership Read more
March 2021
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
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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
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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,
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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
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February 2021
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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January 2021
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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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December 2020
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November 2020
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,
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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October 2020
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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September 2020
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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August 2020
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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