Wanganderry
2019 Presidents Report Uts Robotics Society
2019 Presidents Report UTS Robotics Society
Our mission is to promote and inspire future roboticists, through collaborative learning, linking studies with real-world applications and industry.
I thank you all, our members and executive team, for the hard work, dedication and most importantly, sense of community you have fostered over this past year. It has been a year of expansion and exploration, teaching and learning, socializing and fun.
We have successfully brought together technical, industry and social aspects across 24 events, growing our base in excess of 160 members. 2019 has been a busy year, with many achievements for us all to be proud of. We have been active for 2 competitions sporting 4 teams, run and created multiple workshops and projects, increased industry ties, given back to the wider community and collaborated with over 8 other societies.
This year we saw a long-standing dream come into fruition. We are underway to entering the RoboWars competition. It started with a dedicated group of members building an initial prototype, progressing into two dedicated teams, pitched head-to-head for the best design.
The winning design was chosen by a members vote, resulting in those teams banding together and are currently working hard in bringing this robot all the way from the drawing board to battle-ready, to be entered into the 2020 competition.
The Droid Racing Challenge yet again proved to be highly successful, seeing 2 teams dedicate long hours and work collaboratively to learn and showcase their abilities in robotics at an international inter-university competition. 16 members took their creations and positive attitudes to Brisbane, but not before first engaging with hundreds of UTS students and the wider community through 3 milestone events.
The success of this competition has been seen across the university, with requests to meet the participating students, and exhibit the robots at FEIT orientation day, clubs day, open days and to over 440 delegates from over 250 companies at the Annual AAGE Graduate Recruitment & Development Conference. The success has also expanded the reach of RoboSoc to achieve our mission, as we have been invited to run this project as a summer studio in 2020.
Workshops and projects have also been on the rise, touting tours, robotics and hands-on design thinking workshops for all ages, ranging from primary school students to international educators. This has been made possible through our newly formed relationship with UTS International.
We also hosted workshops with newfound partners Real Skills Education and Mathworks, and who could forget our famous Arduino workshops, running successfully with sold-out tickets in both semesters. These opportunities not only involved and inspired the hundreds of people that participated, but they also enabled the hardworking executives and members that volunteered their time, the chance to develop personally and professionally as the true leaders of tomorrow.
Industry is a large factor of why we first choose to attend university, and this year we have grown our industry connections while maintaining strong existing relationships. We have hosted new industry speakers from Dematic and IEEE RA SIGHT, new workshops with Real Skills Education and Mathworks, and tours with Protospace and the Centre for Autonomous Systems. Our members have been inspired by the vast possibilities this world has to offer, with some even looking at these partners as future employment options.
By engaging outreach opportunities, curious members have been enabled to explore more than just the technical side of robotics. They have given presentations, tours, engaged with and run workshops for a wide range of people, both local and international visitors, from all ages and stages of education.
The social side of this society has also been extremely vibrant, boasting collaborations with over 8 other societies and students from all fields of study. We frolicked at two games days, upheld tradition with our annual vivid walk, partied in style with Time Warp and formed bonds of friendship, some unexpectedly, with the people that you just don’t meet in class, but now call friends.
I especially thank the exec team, general committee and those dedicated members, whom over the course of the last year have tirelessly dedicated themselves to developing and managing the society for the betterment of all our members. Without the incredible work you have all committed, we would not be where we are today.
In just one year, the club, the achievements, and the opportunities have grown so much. I look forward to 2020 and see you moulding this society into your own, making it greater, and more of the community that I have had the pleasure and privilege of being part of.
2019 has been an amazing year, and we all, as UTS Robotics Society, have so very much to be proud of. I thank you.
