Core officer elections have come and gone, but our core leaders aren’t the only elected positions in RoboJackets. Our ability to participate in a diverse range of robotics competitions and projects would not be possible without our Project Managers, who work tirelessly to guide their teams to success. In the month following core officer elections, each team holds their own elections to select their Project Manager and subteam leads for the next year. We’d like to take the time this month to introduce you to our newly elected Project Managers and learn more about what they’re looking forward to for the upcoming year.

BattleBots: Sam Li and Todd Hayes

BattleBots is being led by two Co-PMs this year.

Sam Li is a rising third year student majoring in Aerospace Engineering from Louisiana.  Outside of class, he does research at the Space Systems Design Lab and mentors at the aero maker space. In his spare time, he enjoys binging sci-fi TV shows, playing video games, and recently has been trying to learn parkour. As a first year he worked on the 3lb bot Hibachi, a horizontal bar spinner. As a second year, he served as the bot lead for Valkyrii, a 30 lb undercutter. Beyond the technical experience he’s gained, the part of RoboJackets he’s enjoyed the most has been interacting with other members: “[I]t’s great to become friends with and learn from so many diverse individuals. My favorite experience so far would probably be the night before Motorama my freshman year, pulling a near all-nighter with friends to make last minute fixes to our bot, all while joking around and having a good time.” As a Co-PM he looks forward to working closely with Battlebots members as well as the other RoboJacket teams: “With 5 big bots this year – 2 of which are experimental bot types, the return of the 3lb program, and hopefully competitions resuming, I’m really excited to see what we can accomplish.”

Todd Hayes is a rising third year student majoring in Computer Science. A fun personal fact he wanted to share is that his ears are upside down. As a first year, he worked on three pounder battlebot Huski and served as Outreach PM for the spring semester. As a second year, he was appointed to the position of IT Coordinator and also acted as a mentor for a 3lber team. The part of RJ he’s enjoyed the most have been all the people he’s been able to meet and the friends he’s made. When asked about what he’s most looking forward to as PM, he said he was looking forward to setting up a stable environment for the bot teams to succeed, especially given the number of “experimental types of bots this year, from [bots that use] modular weapons to finishing Hocki. ”

RoboNav: Charles Li

Charles Li is a rising fourth year student from Connecticut. He is majoring in Aerospace Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. In his free time, he enjoys drawing, playing tennis, and cooking. He spent his first two years in RoboJackets as a member of the RoboNav mechanical subteam, before being elected as RoboNav’s mechanical lead in the Spring of 2020. During this time he also organized two buildathons and designed a Swervi test rig, allowing the electrical/software subteams to test Swerve-drive related work in parallel with mechanical design/manufacturing. He highlighted the buildathons as one of his favorite parts about being in RoboJackets: “I liked all the machining we did during them, and the overall social atmosphere of hanging around RJ members”. He also enjoyed his time as mechanical lead, stating: “It was really nice getting to know [the new members], as well as seeing them get to know each other and the … returning members.” As PM, he’s excited to meet new RoboNav members across all three disciplines and lead the team as they compete in their last IGVC and transition to competing in their first URC.

RoboCup: Alyssa Gordon

RoboCup’s new Project Manager is Alyssa Gordon, a rising third year Mechanical Engineering major from Northern Virginia. She loves her two dogs and exploring new places. Since joining RoboJackets, she’s spent most of her time working on RoboCup’s mechanical team. Last year she also served as their mechatronics lead. When asked about what she enjoyed most about being part of RoboJackets, she stated: “I’ve loved getting hands- on experience with our robots and seeing how true interdisciplinary projects can come together.” As vaccinations increase and COVID cases go down, she’s hopeful that the team will be able to start working in the shop again in the upcoming year. She’s also looking forward to having an in person competition next year, saying: “I’m hopeful to be able to plan and succeed at our in person competition in summer 2022, especially with two full years of work on the fleet with only a virtual competition.”

RoboRacing: Sam Walters

Rising third year Sam Walters is a Mechanical Engineering major. In his free time he participates in the Georgia Tech Swim Club and enjoys playing video games. Before being elected as RoboRacing’s Project Manager, he worked on Sedaniii and Rigatoni as a member of the RoboRacing mechanical team. This past year he was also appointed the Mechanical Training Lead, who oversees the mechanical training program for new members across the organization. The part he’s most enjoyed about being part of RoboJackets is the skills he’s gained, saying: “I’ve really enjoyed learning all the different machines and then being able to actually use them in my team’s projects.” As PM, he’s looking forward to “getting to know the team as a whole and hopefully bring back after-meeting Cookout trips!”

RoboWrestling: Caleb Chang

Caleb Chang is back for another year as RoboWrestling’s Project Manager. Now a rising third year Electrical Engineering major, he’s gotten interested in cooking in the midst of quarantine, and is learning how to make authentic Malaysian food. He still likes to do flips. Before becoming PM, he worked on the Sumo bots Gucci and Kirbi. He most enjoys learning from and working with people within the organization, saying: “There are so many talented individuals in terms of technical and leadership skills that propel RJ forward. I strive to keep improving RJ just as they have.” When asked about what he’s learned as PM last year that he plans to bring into next year, he discussed what he learned about preventing burnout: “All too often, I fell into the trap of overloading myself without giving myself proper time to rest.” He’s looking forward to the team not only growing technically, but socially: ”As one of the newest teams, I want the team to develop its culture and identity beyond just robots… my hope is that in this coming year we can… build strong bonds in addition to robots.”

Every year RoboJackets gains over one hundred new members, all with varying degrees of experience with robotics. To get new members ready to contribute to the teams, RoboJackets hosts training sessions for the variety of disciplines that it spans, focusing on electrical, mechanical, and software. This past fall the list was expanded to include dedicated firmware training to complement the existing software and electrical training. Given the breadth and depth of the field of robotics, there are still many gaps in knowledge that can be taught to students, even with the topics covered in RoboJackets training and in the normal Georgia Tech curriculum. Spring training attempts to fill that knowledge gap by allowing members to host their own focused training sessions.

Spring training is the general name given to any training that happens in the spring semester. Without the regular training sessions of the fall, the spring is the perfect time for more experienced members to share their knowledge and experience. This flexibility lets spring training sessions take all kinds of forms. They could be a one-off session on a single, specialized topic or a few sessions covering the breadth of a topic. For example, Kyle Stachowicz, this year’s software training lead, hosted a series of lessons on more advanced topics in controls last year. Due to the remote nature of this year, trainers were able to organize and host sessions more easily. Today we’ll look at some of the sessions from this semester.

Varun Madabushi, robot lead for Hocki and former RoboRacing electrical lead, hosted a session on DC motor control. He noticed that the content was cut from ECE 4550 (Control System Design) due to remote classes, and the topic had to be cut from normal electrical training due to schedule constraints. Varun also noticed controlling DC motors is a critical aspect for high-tier performance of robots, particularly for RoboWresting and RoboRacing where high-speed controls are extra important. Thus the spring training session was born. It was a mix of a class-style lecture and a live demo using MATLAB. He covered the general physics and principles of DC motors and used them to explain the relevant circuit models and equations. There were 6 first and second year members in attendance and the session went very smoothly. “I like the spring training model for filling in gaps… in training that don’t get covered in the fall,” said Varun. He said that these training sessions are particularly useful for first and second year students, both in RoboJackets and in classes.

Another training topic from this semester was technical writing, hosted by former RoboJackets treasurer, Kristaps Berzinch, class of 2019. Technical writing is a critical skill to learn, and it’s not always covered in normal Georgia Tech classes. Working as a software developer for Capital One, Kristaps saw firsthand the importance of technical writing, particularly for writing good documentation. He decided to host a couple of sessions about it using the materials from a course on technical writing by Google. Each had a small audience, which made everyone more engaged. Kristaps said that he likes spring training because it’s a lot easier to learn skills with less commitment than a longer form class or training program.

Overall, the feedback for spring training is positive, but it could always be improved. Spring training is a relatively new effort for RoboJackets, so it hasn’t become as consistent as fall training. Varun and Arvind Srinivasan, who helped coordinate the trainers this year, agreed that they would like to see more sessions in person next year. Arvind noted that spring training gives trainers “an easy outlet to reach RoboJackets as a whole” and would like to see more regularly scheduled sessions. Some trainers like Kyle Stachowicz want “prepared spring training materials… that can be reused for multiple years,” like fall training. “There are some old people whose knowledge I respect a lot,” said Varun, “and I would love to hear them talk about an engineering concept that they think is useful.”

You can find a recording of the DC Motor Controls lecture on our training YouTube channel. Resources for the technical writing session can be found here. Kyle’s training on controls from last year can be found here.

A major part of BattleBots, the subteam of RoboJackets dedicated to creating combat robots, is the 3lber program, the new member training program that all BattleBots members go through. In the program, new members are divided into small teams and assigned a returning member to mentor them. The team then works throughout the year to design and build a 3lb combat robot. In a normal year, the culminating event of the 3lber program is a road trip that takes the new member teams to Pennsylvania to participate in the combat robotics event at Motorama against real hobbyists that have been honing their craft for years. The event is a multi-day affair and has teams competing against opponents, but also forces them to make field repairs in the pits, and often forces teams to think critically about what to do when their robots take major damage. Bringing a robot to competition is the ultimate test and learning opportunity that enables our teams to iterate and succeed (eventually).

This year, Motorama was cancelled and restrictions were placed on the facilities we normally use to manufacture our robots. As a response, the 3lber program was adapted to the 2lber program, a weight class designed to enable teams to still develop robots despite COVID restrictions. The major adjustments were including rules that required teams to construct the majority of their robots out of 3D printed materials, enabling the teams to still manufacture despite limited numbers of people being allowed to work in the manufacturing areas. 

The 2lber program would be incomplete without a competition at which the teams could test their mettle. To replicate the Motorama experience, RoboJackets hosted its own internal 2lber combat robot competition, a single elimination tournament to determine which robot could push its way to the top. RoboJackets streamed the event on our youtube channel, so you too can see the results of the new 2lber program. We don’t want to spoil the winner of the competition here, but we will say if you watch the stream recording long enough you might see a surprise visit from a unique robot design.

We gave an update on the progress of each robot in the December issue of the newsletter that discussed their progress. Take a look at the difference between the CAD screenshots and the finished products.

The competition was hosted at the prestigious Student Competition Center Parking Lot, right across from Ikea. The arena that the 2lber competition used was the one built for the 20th Anniversary Competition that RoboJackets hosted in 2019. The arena is built using 80-20, the “Industrial Erector Set”, and layered wood that can be replaced as it inevitably gets damaged by fights.

Just like at any combat robotics competition, the teams have to work industriously in the pit areas to make sure their robots can, first and foremost, qualify for competition and make field repairs after the carnage in the arena.

We asked Cade Tyler, the 3lber Program Leader for the past year and the recently elected Treasurer, for his thoughts on the competition. He says that he hopes “everyone there got a taste of what a larger competition would be like.” He also mentioned that “this was the first time a lot of the new members were able to interact with older members and new members on other teams.” Because normal team meetings with all members weren’t possible with COVID restrictions, the 2lber competition was also a time to meet and interact with other members that the current teams might not have met yet. He also hopes this taste of the full combat robotics experience made the new members eager to graduate from the 3D printed 2 lb robots to the larger, primarily metal robots that are more commonly made in BattleBots.

We also asked Keaton Sadoski, Largetoni’s mentor, for how he thought the 2lber competition experience measured up to Motorama. The first thing he highlighted was the advantage of having control over when our competition was as opposed to the static timeline of Motorama:

The biggest improvement was the longer build cycle. Many teams had semi-functional chassis before the night before competition. At least with Largetoni, it was the first time I had seen a 3/2lb team that could practice driving within a very competition-accurate environment. This meant they could get a feel for driving under gyroscopic conditions and understand their drive systems. On the other hand, Motorama is great in the fact that you can see a wide range of mature bots. Getting beat badly by a kitbot/try-hard stings at first, but it shows where you lack better than you can tell just staring at your own bot. That fact as well as the double elimination format [at Motorama] gives a team a lot of opportunities to get data on their design.

Overall, the 3lb program organizers did their best to adapt to the circumstances of the year and deliver the best new member training program it could. We look forward to seeing what the next generation of BattleBots members can design and build in the future as they build on their experience in the 2lber program.