Departments | StuyPulse

Engineering

Engineering is responsible for designing and building the robot. Every build season, Engineering divides up into smaller groups consisting of 4-6 students, at least one of whom is a veteran member. These groups focus on individual parts of the robot such as the drive train, electronics and mechanisms. There is often more than one mechanism group either focusing on different parts of the robot, or competing against each other for the better design. To keep track of all these groups, we have a President and Vice President of Engineering. It is their job to make sure that all of engineering runs smoothly. We also have many directors, including the Primary Machinist, Director of Lab Operations and Safety, Director of Procurement, Director and Assistant Director of Electronics, Director and Assistant Director of Strategy, Director of Design, and Director of Field Construction. More information about these positions can be found here.

Software Engineering

The job of the programmers is to write software which controls the robot's logic and motion on the playing field, as well as to ensure that the electronic systems are running smoothly. Essentially, they breathe life into otherwise lifeless metal. The programming team is also responsible for making sure all of the old robots have working code so that they are prepared to perform for demonstrations. Because most incoming members having little or no programming experience, we take it upon ourselves to teach everyone to program using the Java language. Teaching a large group of students to program a robot is no easy task, given our painfully short time frame. The pressure and patience pays off, however, when we see our code being executed by a 120lb robot soaring across the field. Team 694 also believes in open source software and the free distribution of our code to the greater community. All of our code is free for anyone to look at and learn from. Note: Some files may not be under the same open license, please check the comments of each file for specific licensing information. All of our code (past and present) is open source and available for viewing on our Github.

Business

Our Business department has a very diverse list of responsibilities. It is in charge of fundraising, branding, logistical work like meals during build season and travel planning, award submissions, outreach as well as any other task that does not fall under the other departments. To make sure all these projects are running smoothly, we have a President and Vice President of Business. They are also responsible for being the primary contact for our sponsors. Our Director of Public Relations is responsible for coordinating all of our outreach efforts, which include mentoring FLL, FTC, and FRC teams as well as maintaining a strong presence on the media. Our Director of Finance maintains contact with sponsors and ensures the stability of the budget, and our Director of Operations helps out with the logistics of events and paperwork.