As the academic year winds down, IEEE INSAT Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter continue their efforts to engrain the passion for robotics in young engineering students in INSAT and Tunisia. Here is a short recap of this year’s activities.
The activities were very diverse, but the common factor was focusing on the members and increasing their engagement throughout the year by giving them the chance not only to participate in competitions and workshops but also to organize large-scale events, be part of making decisions and contributing to the success of the chapter.
During this year, IEEE INSAT RAS SBC has organized many workshops and training sessions. Three Arduino Training sessions took place in October to give the members, especially those who are new, the chance to acquire basic skills ranging from the use of sensors through programming autonomous and remotely controlled robots.
A certified training session in SolidWorks was also held helping 25 IEEE members obtain their CSWA certificate. These certifications are very useful in their future careers. Mechanical design is very important in competitions to design the robots, and allowing the members to get an international certification in SolidWorks was very helpful.
The training also covered soft skills through a Neurolinguistic programming training session delivered by a certified practitioner.
The executive team also taught robotics for children in Maison de la Jeunesse, Sidi Daoud, Tunis as part of their volunteering mission.
They also represented RAS Chapter and IEEE in LPBT, a Tunisian pioneer high school in Space Expo LPBT.
One of the main events that IEEE INSAT RAS SBC is known for is National Robotics Weekend during the first weekend of spring break. The three-day congress, in its second edition which theme was “Smart Cities” gathered 91 participants on the 17th, 18th and 19th of March 2019. The participants who were able to attend diverse workshops and participate in challenges. The program included 2 and a half hour workshops in digital marketing, business plan development, neuro-linguistic programming and leadership as well as 4 and a half hour training sessions that covered the following topics: Raspberry basics, Internet of Things, Machine Learning applied to robotics and Mechanical Design using SolidWorks. An important part of the program was the challenges: an exhibition challenge, a CAD challenge using SolidWorks and a 24-hour IoT challenge. The prizes were delivered during the closing ceremony. The congress also included a team building session and an intervention from Mr. Wael Jaballah, RAS Tunisia Chapter General Secretary about a HAC funded project, Robotics for Democracy, of which he is the HR manager. The anonymous feedback form indicated an overwhelming rate of satisfaction with the favorite part being the technical workshops. NRW is the only robotics congress organized by IEEE in Tunisia which helped increase member engagement in INSAT and in other student branches. It also included 15 IEEE members from INSAT as Staff, which was an opportunity for them to extend their network and improve their interpersonal skills.
IEEE INSAT RAS SBC was also present in many national robotics competitions such as ENSI RoboCup, ULT Robots, Tunirobots and ENIM Robots.
As described by the team “Leaving an impact is one of the many sides of IEEE. That is why we shifted our interest to humanitarian work and making a change in our community. We organize top quality events for the members and for engineering students in general, and our work even includes people outside of the IEEE community. Our volunteers are extremely passionate about robotics, and we want to spread this passion everywhere we can.“
” Volunteering for this chapter has been a blast.” Says Omar Mabrouk, the former chairman of RAS SBC . ” My strategy was to focus on the members and on human resources. That is exactly what happened. We have built a very strong connection, and that is why they are present in all our activities as organizers and as participants. Globally, it has been a life changing experience. If i could turn back time I would do it all again, I am so grateful for this experience, for the people I’ve met, for the good times and the hard ones, for my new family”. As the media manager of last year says, Mr. Souhail Chtioui, and the newly elected chairman of IEEE INSAT RAS SBC, “I can confirm that there will be continuity in this year’s work. I plan to diversify the training schedule and focus on humanitarian work. We are also participating in this year’s Eurobot competition. The standards are high and great efforts should be done to live up to last year’s work, but we are very optimistic and our vision is clear! ”
Many awards were won in recognition for the efforts made, the following is the list of awards won this year:
- IEEE Outstanding Student Branch Chapter in Tunisia, TSYP 2018
- IEEE Region 8 EASC Acceleration Program , runner up position with National Robotics Weekend.
- First Prize in ULT Robots 3.0
- First Prize in the Tunisian Robotics Champions’ League in Tunirobots 2019.
With the elections held on the 22nd of May 2019, Mr Souhai Chtioui was elected as the new chairman of IEEE INSAT RAS SBS after he was its media manager in the past mandate.
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