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sotonrobodev - Minutes 07/11/16


Slack chat (sotonrobodev)

  • Motivations

  • how can sr be improved or done better.

  • not considering sr beyond recovery
  • don't want to compete with SR

    • Might both fail, seperate audiences
    • Just giving them more choice
  • what happens if SR does last?

  • If we can't change it for the better, don't rule out competing.
  • Do something different.

    • Maybe target local schools
  • How to make us better than SR (Politics and Experience)

    • Provide better access to facilities and engineers
    • Host in university to give experience of uni.
      • Possibly branched based.
      • keep it in universities
      • Give them an experience of uni (possible value).
        • Partner with a company? (tour around facilities)
  • Find sponsors (maybe kit manufacturers)

  • Funding from Dave Oakley
  • Target audience

    • 18-16 year olds
    • outreach (going to happen one way or another).
    • Primary focus of sixth form students.
    • Aim for year 10-12 (fairly certain)
  • Motivations

    • We enjoy it :)
    • Enjoying hosting a competition.
    • Show them what engineering is like.
    • Promote STEM to students not doing STEM.
  • Values (how we influence our behavior)

    • Consider a mission statement before Values
      • 'Providing an engineering experience to pupils'. Mission Statement
    • How can we learn from SR.
    • Working democracy
    • Should change how we behave.
    • Radical transparency
      • Everything reproduceable.
        • Off the shelf vs Accessible
    • Everything well documented
      • Anything closed should be explained
      • Biased towards transparency.
    • Use your own initiative (all problems are everyones problems) - DOocracy
    • Be biased to action
    • Anyone should be able get involved with something (no permission needed)
    • Trust anyone to make their own changes and improvements
    • Development iterations (always look for ways to improve).
    • 🐝 Excellent to each other
    • In the face of ambiguity do not guess.
    • Now is better than never
    • Prefer simplicity
    • http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5855758/what-is-the-source-code-of-the-this-module-doing
    • Possible document for these (examples and counter examples)
  • Name not important at the moment.

  • What we look like.

    • Musts, Shoulds (Tailor the experience to them).
    • Purple
    • Involving Teamwork
    • Don't make the teamwork get in the way of the engineering
    • Struggling for volunteers going to schools
    • Age gaps between mentors and competitors.
    • Frequent Tech Days.
    • Make competitions frequent (2 months?)
      • Avoids exams
    • Focus on single local competition then work out logistics later.

KIT !!!

  • Should we aim for custom or consumer
  • Farnell or RS as a sponsor (discount codes?)
  • Different Sensor systems (ultrasonic sensors)
  • Smaller, simpler kits
  • Don't follow previous constraints
  • Reproduceable (Provide kit list)
  • Low barrier to entry

  • Issues with kit

  • Raspberry pi IO protection, SD card corruption

  • kIT REQUIRMENTS STUDENTS Python Robust (resiliant against damage and stable software) Safe 2 brushed/brushless motors easy to load code/get results initial sensor (webcam/switches/whatever) ease of assembly

** potential replacements for after competition

  • US Easy to help debugging