Are you interested in robotics and are thinking about joining our association or are you interested in what we do? Below you can find more on what the RSA can offer you and what we expect from our members.
What we can offer you
The association is located in the attic of RoboHouse where we have an office space, a general area, and a storage room. The attic can be accessed throughout the day and is the main location for organizing events. Our office is a great place to study or to discuss your projects with likeminded students. The RoboHouse workshop and storage room facilities are available to our members to work on their personal or group projects.
The RSA board is always busy organizing events and activities and making sure you have everything you need at our association. Below you can find some more info on what you can expect at our association.
Hackathons and workshops
The RSA would not be called the Robotics Student Association if we wouldn't organize robotics related events. That's why we regularly organise hackathons, where groups of students try to build a robot in a limited amount of time to accomplish a certain goal. We try to choose the topics such that you can always contribute to the challenge, unrelated to which study you do.
This year there will also be the MicroMouse competition, where you can build a maze-solving robot throughout the year, with workshops to help you make your robot!
We also organize workshops on various topics throughout the year: CAD design, electronics, PCB design, Arduino and more! They’re a great opportunity to learn a new skill and get better at building robots! They are also all interactive, so you get to assemble some electronics parts or design your own PCB during the workshop for example.
Projects
The RSA wants to support your projects. We do this by giving you access to a workshop where you can work on your project as well as our storage room to safely store your materials. Larger projects can even get their own room in RoboHouse!
You also have the possibility to join an existing project. More information about the projects we are currently associated with can be found on the projects page. These teams will also present their projects during project evenings where they will answer any questions you might have. If you want to start a new project and need inspiration, we organize brainstorm sessions for new members where we come up with project ideas together. This is also a great time to learn what other members are interested in and maybe start a project together.
Tools, components & help
We have spaces where members can use various tools, such as soldering irons and electronics tools, 3d printers and a laser cutter. We also have a large selection of components including microcontrollers, sensors, actuators and more. You can borrow all of these for your projects, as long as they stay in the building! If you want to build any kind of robot, RSA is the place to do so!
There are also many members that will be willing to help you, whether you’re discovering robotics or you need help for more advanced topics.
Drinks
Drinks (borrels) are generally organized on Thursday evenings and are a great time to hang out with friends or meet fellow robotics enthusiasts. Some of these borrels will also be interest drinks were we will invite certain studies who are interested in robotics or were you can bring friends who might be interested in the association.
Once a quarter we host a project evening during the borrel, where you can discover all of the active RSA projects and see what they are doing! Some projects will also be looking for new members, so these project evenings are a great place to look for a robotics project to join.
Other activities
Some other activities we organize are, e.g., game nights, excursions, or guest lectures. The occasional game nights are a great deal of fun were our members compete in ping pong tournaments, board games, or other competition based games. During the excursions we will visit robotics related companies to get a behind the scenes look at what they are doing. This is a great time to learn more about working at these companies or get inspiration for, e.g., manufacturing processes. At guest lectures we’ll invite someone to present an interesting topic, such as a robotics project or startup, generally at lunch or dinner time.
Newsletter
The RSA Newsletter is a publication that contains hand-picked recent developments and latest news about robotics and adjacent fields. The Newsletter is open for submissions, whether project demonstrations or presentations on an interesting topic.
What we expect from you
Committees
If you want to help out the RSA, you can join a committee. This way, we can organize bigger and more events as well as improve the growth of the association. For more information on our committees and which positions are available, visit the committees page.
The RSA encourages their members to be as active as possible, either by joining a project or a committee. This is of course not mandatory, you can also just join if you want to have a fun time surrounded by fellow robotics enthusiasts.
Membership fee
The membership fee is just 20€ for the entire year! With this, you get access to most RSA events for free, you can use the workshop and shared spaces, you can borrow components for your projects, and more.
Some events such as large hackathons and excursions might also require a small contribution, and some projects can also ask for a contribution if you want to join them.
