Meetings

For Spring term, meetings are held every Monday evening at 6pm in the ICRS Base.

The format is as follows:

• Each person goes over any progress from the past week
• Meeting then follows the agenda
• Any other business, not on the agenda, discussed at the end

23rd November 2012, 13pm

Agenda

• Update on Plan for 2012-2013
• Events
  • Xmas Dinner
• Hackday Buffer needs to be updated more
• Lab
  • Current status of lab equipment list
  • Shadow Board
• Sponsorship
  • ARM
  • EEE
  • DoC

31st October 2012, 12pm

Agenda

• EEE Admissions afternoons: touring L5 labs
• Other events by ICRS this term
• Eurobot
• Other projects
• Courses
• Access to ideas labs
• Ways to keep the labs tidy - tags, recycle bins, ...

17th October 2012, 12pm

Agenda

• Robotics 101 Course tickets
  • Problem with Union server (it sold 40 instead of 20)
  • Possible solution to run groups of 2
  • Other alternative to refund the 20 last people (according to time of purchase)
• BBQ
  • Arrangement of people in time-slot to help with preparations

9th October 2012, 12pm

Agenda

• Tweenbot
  • 1:00 - 1:30 Talks (Racing Green, Eurobot, courses)
  • 1:30 - 3:00 Tweenbot
  • 3:00 - 4:30 Hyde Park
• Megabyte talk
  • 16 Oct 2012
  • EEE LT 408 at 6pm
  • Sandwiches 7:30pm
• BBQ
  • 18 Oct 2012
  • Membership required (one free beer to each member)
  • Tom, George, Chris to help with setup
• Courses
  • Tickets: Mon at 12 noun, Tue at 1pm from Union store online
  • C++ for beginners every Friday
  • CAD course: Tuesdays 7-9pm
  • Robotics 101: Mondays
• Eurobot 2013 Contest
  • Form 3-4 sub-divisions (Software, Hardware, etc...)

1st October 2012, 12pm

Agenda

• Freshers Fair
• new labs
• Courses
• BBQ
• icrobotics.co.uk
  • setup on google apps, temporary password = icrs2012
  • forward emails to your account

28th July 2012, 2pm

Agenda

• Description of first few events of the new year
  • Freshers fair
  • Tweenbot
  • BBQ
  • 1st megabyte talk
• Lab equipment
• Project managers
• Course confirmation and assistant volanters
  • Robotics 101
  • ROS
  • Programming
  • Oskar?
  • Arduino?
• Any last business

21st June 2012, 6.15pm

Agenda

• Engineering Open Day (Marquee & EEE Lv 5)
• Hackathon update
• Competitions (Eurobot, maybe RoboCup@Rescue? )
• Projects update
• Planning of next academic year 2012-13
  • Making a concrete budget
  • Courses - must begin planning sylbauses over summer
• Sustainable funding
• ICRS Alumni
• BBQ

22nd May 2012, 12pm

Agenda

• ARM BBQ
• Courses
  • Teachers
  • When? Evening afternoons?
• Hackathon
• Year structure and themes
• Fresher Event (Tweenbots) and Fair.

Summary

• ARM BBQ
  • Host preferably Tuesday 19th June afternoon.
  • Try and get Physics balcony
  • Failing that use Princes Gardens
  • Ask union where to get BBQ food, presumably Tescos - Aksat

• Courses
  • About £10 per course
  • Everyone willing to help be assistants at least
  • Each given twice a year, once in summer and then again in spring
  • Host in evenings and try and keep them relatively short sessions
  • Robotics 101
    • Ask ARM to donate 20 Mbeds - Josh
    • Don't allow students to keep robots
  • Arduino
    • Need to find leader
    • Could possibly allow students to keep robots
  • Oskars Course on Advanced Robotics of Awesomeness
  • Programming
    • Need to find leader
  • Mobile
    • Talk to mobile development society starting up next year - Heng

• Hackathon
  • 21st of June to 29th of June
  • Several projects each with own leader and meeting to discuss details
    • Reprap mendle max
    • Quadcopter

• Year Structure
  • Courses run in both summer and spring
  • Themes decided adhoc by Oskar for hacking Wednesdays
    • Flying
    • Lego
    • Racing

• Freshers Event
  • Stay with Tweenbot theme
  • Organise later through email and those already at uni

• Finance
  • ~£1300 currently left for this year
  • Next year £6000 to £11000 depending on John Lever Memorial Award (budget planned assuming we don't win)
    • Courses ~£1500
    • Eurobot ~£1000
    • Events ~£750
    • Tweenbot/freshers fair ~£100
    • Reprap plastic ~£300
    • Lab/tools ~£200
    • Projects/components ~£2500-£3000

27th February 2012, 6pm

Agenda

• Choose a project to make it fully functioning
• Progress on the Beginners' Box (TM)
• mbed workshop
• Megabyte Talks
• Updates on Progress for various things
• New Committee Meal
• Passing Over of Duties

AGM - 22th February 2012, 1pm

(incomplete)

• Overview of this year
  • Projects
    • Eurobot
      • One of the reasons that Society was founded
      • Great success last year
    • UAV, IARC, quadcopter
    • RepRap, our 3D printer
    • Other smaller projects (little hacks)
      • RFID, Large LED Screen, (expecting 12 more panels)
  • Education
    • • 4 very successful courses
      • will be further improved next after the feeback we received
  • Events
    • Megabyte Talks
      • Really successful
      • Chance for to include more people in the Society
  • Finances
    • Doing great
    • Funding from Company take ages
    • Money from Departments are an immediate source
    • We might ask companies other things than money (eg mbed's)
  • Society provided fun!
  • Future
    • More funding
    • Better organisation
    • Passion and enthusiasm for Robotics
    • Find more people to help with projects
    • In need of a finalised/working project!
      • Greatest weakness of the Society
      • Dr Pike offered to sponsor such a project
    • Target Physics & MechEng Depts next year
• Elections 2012
  • There was at least one candidate for every position
  • High turnout, a lot of people attended
  • 2012 Committee

20th February 2012, 6pm

Agenda

• Book for people to sign if they use our stuff for non ICRS work
• Progress on getting a Megabyte Talk underway
• Progress on the Beginners' Box (TM)
• mbed workshop
• Eurobot/Quadcopter updates

13th February 2012, 6pm

Agenda

• Elections - AGM
• Megabyte Talks
• ARM Workshop
• Sponsorship - any updates
• Arrangements for the smooth transition to next year committee
  • Graduating members to pass knowledge, files etc...
  • New Committee members to attend Committee meetings shortly after Elections
• Courses Updates
• Projects Updates

Minutes

• Elections - AGM
  • Postponed for 13:00-15:00 Wed, 22nd Feb 2012
  • Better preparation, organisation
  • 12 nominees-candidates
  • Re-opening nominations was considered as an option
  • Time arrangements for people attending Android course to attend AGM
• Policy for non-Imperial people
  • Students or other people should always be accompanied by an ICRS member
  • Megabyte events are the only event open to everyone
• ARM Workshop
  • On 7th March 2012
  • Strictly for ICRS members - impose non-member to join ICRS
  • Places for about 50 people
• Sponsorship
  • Everything seems to be going well
  • Conflicts between the Union and ARM for signing some paperwork
• Eurobot
  • About 7 new members (2 MechEng, 1 DoC, 4 EEE)
• Android course
  • Progressing very well
  • Moved to a new more convenient room, Room 509 (EEE)
• Beginners' Box
  • In beta phase
  • Now costs £40, but price will be decreased if import components from abroad (e.g. China)
  • Ask volunteers to test it
  • Manuals are already live on wiki
• Storage problem persists
  • Nobody is using the "laser room", Room 503
  • EEE Departmental Student-Stuff committee suggested to renovate room
  • Newly elected Lab Manager to take full responsibility for all labs and potentially new storage space
• Important Deadline on May!
  • Room bookings for the entire academic year to be made from May onwards
  • Crucial for our courses, events to make immediate bookings as soon as room bookings start
• High demand for wood in the Society
  • Suggestion to purchase part of it from EEE Store
  • Storage space does not let the Society to buy it in larger quantities

30th January 2012, 6pm

Agenda

• Committee Positions for the Elections
• Draft Budget
• Maker Faire
• First Android Course Lesson Report
• Cinema Trip
• Eurobot email response

Minutes

• Committee Positions for the 2012 Elections
  • President
  • Treasurer
  • Secretary
  • Events Officers (x2)
  • Maker Faire Officer (preparing Imperial College Maker Faire with other societies)
  • Education Officer
  • Webmaster
  • Projects Officer
  • Sponsorships Coordinators (x2)
  • Lab Manager (security of expensive tools)
  • Publicity Officer
  • Total: 13 officers
• Draft of the Form for Grant - No objections
• Android OS course
  • Great Success, 9 additional members as instructors
  • Participate in IC competition for Android app
• Cinema Trip went great, can be repeated
• Eurobot Competition
  • 8 applications for new members (mainly from EEE)
  • email needs to be send in MechEng, targeting students competent in Mechatronics
• RepRap in finally fixed and back to printing!
• Great discovery of Coca-Cola billboard
  • Oscar arranged the acquisition of it along with a Maintenance Manual
  • To be put on Level 5 labs window, make ICRS mark in EEE building

23rd January 2012, 6pm

Minutes

• 23 T-shirts ordered (ETA 2 weeks)
• An other person to run Arduino course
• Tuan is involved with Android course
• Events
  • Elections
    • Nominations open on 1 Feb
    • Actual elections held on 15 Feb
    • Find a Returning officer
    • Major event (AGM) with fun, food, t-shirts
    • Forum, discussion-feedback
    • Increase the number of Committee officers (more Events officers, etc...)
  • mbed event (Hamza)
  • Cinema Trip
  • IC Maker Faire/Exhibition Day/Update
    • Similar to Freshers' Fair
    • Invite more Societies (Software Club, Racing Green)
    • Maybe postpone the event for next year
    • Organize something smaller this year
• Grant from Union for our members
  • Deadline: 5 Feb
  • Achieved 126 members, goal was set to 50 (success 252%)
  • £650
• Run courses/projects in two speeds (Beginners & Experienced)
• Keep the Society open to everyone
• RepRap almost working
• Find ways to attract more experienced members
• Recruit more people for Eurobot
• Current final-year students to pass their experience to non-final students

16th January 2012, 6pm

Agenda

• Regular Meetings (every week)
• T-shirts
• Projects: Eurobot
• Courses:
  • another Arduino course?
  • Android programming course
  • Robotics 101 conclusions
• Events:
  • Talk on Surgical Robotics: 31st Jan
  • Kinetica Artfair: 9-12 Feb
  • Elections: Mid-February
  • ARM BBQ

Minutes

• Recap for last term (Autumn term)
  • Four high-quality Megabyte Talks
  • Robotic courses and Projects
  • Reached 119 paid members in Union website [1]
  • This term: ICRS should become more social, fun, ...
• Events
  • Medical Robotics: 31 Jan
  • Definitely an mbed workshop/robot-racing, due to ARM funding (see below)
  • Kinetica: 9-12 Feb, similar to but better than Maker Faire
  • NO events/courses during last week of terms
  • Barbecue event towards the end of term (need for warm weather)
  • Two talks/major events per term are enough
• Finances
  • ARM contribution in one month: £3000
  • More transparent finances
  • Updates in every meeting and in wiki
• Elections - AGM
  • to be held mid-February
  • be more like an event/party, to bring more members
• Courses
  • Don't give away any hardware (keep and reuse them)
  • Restrict members to be restricted up to one or two courses
  • Courses to be split between Beginners and Advanced/Experienced
  • Beginners Courses (proposed)
    • To be used to get new and inexperienced members started
    • Programming course
    • Electronics course
    • Both courses could be online
    • Instructors would be available to help in ICRS Base
  • Advanced Courses
    • Electronics/Robotics basics as a prerequisite
    • Previous programming knowledge required
    • FPGA course (maybe funded by a company)
    • Android ROS course
    • ARM Arduino 101 (course reorganized, simpler syllabus)
• Beginner's box/Welcome pack
  • Comes with the £5 membership
  • Includes T-shirt with our logo
  • Also includes a flashing LED pin/throw-magnets that needs soldering
  • Instruction to construct to be easily available
  • Info about Courses/projects, links on our wiki, etc...
• Projects
  • Eurobot (need for more members)
  • RepRaps need to be fixed
• T-shirts (will receive them after form is sent)
• Make a Grant Application from ICU
  • Justified by the number of our members
  • Deadline: Feb
  • Next year estimate: more than 150 members or so
• Proposal to P. Cheung
  • Fight For The Laser Lab
  • Ask for more space in the labs
  • Space in the Laser room might not be available anymore
  • Maybe rename the labs to "Robotics Society-3rd/4th year labs"
  • No email spamming, only one email to be sent
  • Spreadsheet with data of how many people visit the labs and when (rough estimates)
  • Compose a document with the benefits of the members and EEE from ICRS
• Website-wiki
  • Problems experienced due to the migration to Union site
  • New form in wiki for non-Imperial members to sign-up to events (linked to Google docs)
• Getting EEE Card Access process already exists
  • Links/banners should look prettier to make more people visit
• Wiki to be used for committee members coordination
• Meetings will be held every Monday, 6pm

17th November 2011, 1pm

Agenda

• Finances
  • Has anyone received money yet?
• Megabyte Talks
  • What's the for this term
  • Next term?
• Courses
  • Robotics 101
  • Arduino Course
  • PCB 101
• Projects
  • UAV
  • Quadcopter
• Eurobot
  • Plan for the rest of the term
• Sponsorship
  • Start-up Robotics Company
  • OC Trust
  • ARM
  • ABB Robotics
• Christmas Dinner

Minutes

• Finances
  • Received £2000 from EEE and £2000 from DoC
    • However VAT has been deducted: £40000/1.2 = £3333.33
    • Zheng Shuang is working on getting the VAT back
    • Needs a letter from the departments saying that they don't want anything in return for the money (i.e. it is a donation)
  • There is now a Finances wiki page
    • Should increase our financial transparency
  • Sponsorship is still progressing slowly
    • Hamza - OC Trust
    • Harry - ARM
    • Oskar - ABB
    • There's a domestic robotics startup company who's interested in sponsoring us.
• Megabyte Talks
  • IBM Talk 6th December - How does Watson work?
  • 3D Printed Aircraft talk - 13th December
  • More planned for next term, but not confirmed
  • No ICRS event for robotics week yet
• Courses
  • Robotics 101
    • Competitions not working due to slow progress
    • Music is always enjoyed
    • CAD workshop being delayed because of non-working RepRap
• Projects
  • Big event on Wednesday - UAV and Quadcopter
  • Possibly getting access to the IDEAs lab for a few ICRS members - Oskar
• Christmas Dinner
  • Ioannis to organise
• Asset Tracking System
  • RFID working
  • We have a barcode scanner
  • We need a whole system with databases and logging
  • Link it to our membership, so that it becomes more attractive
  • We need some people to develop this
• There's a need to recruit more young people soon
  • Have a wiki page dedicated to positions within the society which are available
  • Meet up every now and again, with drinks/pizza, and try to recruit more young members
• Regular weekly emails
  • Ioannis to start sending newsletters
  • Need to design some quick and easy process to get things included in the weekly email
  • Newsletters must be clear and have the sponsor's logos
• Do not hack stickers
  • Oskar to design
  • Cable stickers also need making

1st November 2011, 12:00 noon

Agenda

• Megabyte Talks
• Robotics Course
• Projects
• Eurobot
• Sponsorship
• T shirts

Summary

• Megabyte Talks
  • IC catering
  • All is going to plan
• Robotics Course
  • Don't know where the mbeds are, won't be disastrous if they don't come but very annoying
  • All going nicely but we next year we need to remove competitions in first 2 sessions.
  • Hopefully other sessions will go well and there should be time for competition as less technically demanding
• Projects
  • Oscar trying to get access to ESA super GPS
• Eurobot
  • Have ordered materials for maze but they haven't come yet
  • Planning to start mechanical construction soon
  • About 6 core team members
    • Plan to each run a small team for specific tasks
    • Small teams of about 3 people?
    • Each leader to organize their own team, contact them if you want it.
• Sponsorship
  • Hopefully some more money will arrive for PCB and ardino courses
  • Trying to get some more Farnell sponsorship for second PCB course, mostly in components
  • How much do we have in Farnell budget?
• T shirts
  • Need to get T shirts ordered soon
  • Send email to all payed members asking for sizes?
• Website
  • Copy created and setup on Union servers
  • Possibly a day where we can't edit the wiki (current edits will be copied across before the switch)
  • Not ready yet, can't seem to edit on union servers

21st October 2011, 12:15pm

Agenda

• Megabyte Talks
  • Volunteers (of varying committments)
  • Catering form filling and signature
• Robotics Course
  • mbeds
• Projects
• Eurobot
• Sponsorship
• T shirts

8 October 2011, 12:15pm

Agenda

• Google Groups or Mailman
• Robotics society space
• Purchasing and budget approval process
• Committee Mailing List
• Demand for the robotics course
• Expenses
• Eurobot Report
• Megabyte Talks Report
• AOB

22 June 2011

• robotics core activity but open to other techy/hacky projects
• hack afternoon
• Take UK out
• Industry covered by bp 2?

• X% of committee undergrad?

• members get a t-shirt, workshops, ordering, wiki editting

• spending authorization

• monthly/3 times per term

• minimise order latency

• icrobotics.co.uk email addresses

• Tom as General Officer