S24 Startup Guide - Andrew Shum

Welcome!

We’re happy to have you on board as our new Autonomy Software Engineering co-op! To aid your first few days here at WARG, we have created a startup guide that you can refer to to see what your project will be, key contacts, and some steps you’ll have to take.

About WARG

The University of Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group (abbreviated as ‘WARG’) is a student design team affiliated with the Sedra Student Design Centre at the University of Waterloo.

The principal objectives of WARG are:

• To enable students to learn about robotics and develop innovative new aerial robotic solutions through collaboration and non-classroom instruction.

• To expose students to all aspects of project management, fundraising, marketing and exposure to various mechanical, electrical and controls challenges.

• To provide an opportunity for students (of all backgrounds) and experts to work together in an effort to accomplish these goals.

This year, we are seeking to meet these objectives through attendance at the AEAC student competition. WARG is currently developing a quadcopter aircraft (project Pegasus) to compete in this year’s competition at the end of May.

Open

A photo of PROJECT PEGASUS

The Autonomy subteam is responsible for developing and implementing custom software solutions for autonomous drone operations. This Spring 2024 term, we are focusing on developing our infrastructure and architecting new projects (such as your Obstacle Avoidance project).

Administrative Details

Key Contacts

Manager: @Tong Zhang

• Go-to for all administrative concerns regarding your internship here

• Your manager will be the person you interact with daily and guide you through your internship

Team Directors: (Executive) @Daniel Puratich @Megan Spee (Technical) @Nathan Green

• The team directors are those who run the WARG organization as a whole. They are in charge of the overall operation of the team and can be reached at any time over discord should the need arise.

Pre-first-day items

Safety Training

Before your first day, please complete the following courses:

You can access these courses by going to learn, selecting “Self Registration,” and enrolling in these courses.

Joining Discord

The team uses discord to communicate!

Joining Management Softwares

We use Asana to manage tasks and timelines and Confluence to handle documentation. You should use your uwaterloo.ca email. If you do not have access to these services, ask your manager to provide you with an invite.

Team Cadence

Your subteam, Autonomy, meets on a weekly basis (meeting times are scheduled at the start of the term). You’ll also be expected to attend general meetings, and other relevant meetings as needed. Our meeting schedule can be found in our google calendar in #info .

Your Project

@Tong Zhang has scoped out a custom Obstacle Avoidance Project to replace ArduPilot’s. This project’s goals are:

1. Read and visualize LiDAR data

2. Stop the drone from hitting an obstacle on an autonomous mission

3. Deflect around an obstacle on an autonomous mission

4. Stop the drone from hitting an obstacle in manual mode

5. Aid the pilot in deflecting around an obstacle in manual mode

First Week Items

Appendix

Useful links

• What do all the acronyms mean? Check it out here: https://uwarg-docs.atlassian.net/l/cp/D2oP5Vjw

• The Autonomy homepage, with lots of helpful info: https://uwarg-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/x/fYBuR