Memo's for internal use
A lot of things happen every week in each department of RoboTeam Twente, therefore we plan one General Team Meeting (GTM) where all departments update the others about their progress as well as issues or help they require. In short, everything.
But it isn't a flawless way of keeping all projects and staff on the same page until the next meeting.
Not everyone is always able to make it how hard you might try, and because so many things get discussed people will forget parts after or throughout the week, Luckily we do have minutes that get taken every GTM, but these usually are quite long and detailed and also buried many in many folders which causes friction for people to open them up later and extract the information usefull for them. Therefore, we introduced Memo's.
These Memos will be sent out after each GTM to every member via ZULIP and Email.
They are a summary of all the important information from the minutes of that meeting, including deadlines or action points for example.
They can either be written by hand or by an LLM and checked after to make sure it all got done correctly (minutes might include jokes, RoboTeamisms etc. LLMs get confused writing the Memos).
I got more favorable feedback when writing the Memos as a big list of bullet points with chapters instead of paragraphs, of course this wasn't universal so understand what your team prefers.
Here is an example of a bullet point memo:
Memo GTM June 15th
- Announcements:
- Office power is still down after a power brick shorted.
- ERC qualification announcement moved to June 28th.
- Reveal Event is in 2 weeks (June 30th).
- Student Team photoshoot is on June 25th (15:00–18:00).
- Photos will be used for promotional and international media purposes.
- Meeting on Tuesday about rover layout and component placement.
- Anyone wanting hardware on the rover should attend and contact Candela.
- PR:
- Several company representatives have confirmed attendance at the Reveal Event
- Current plan is to have two speakers per subteam.
- Preliminary speaker list has been drafted.
- Rehearsals need to start being planned soon.
- Mechanics:
- Erik is working on the rover walls.
- Ludwig is working on suspension-related tasks.
- Myrto is assembling the gripper and working on the gearbox.
- Printing materials will be purchased next week.
- Beacon and switch components may be printed if time allows.
- Electronics:
- Ethernet cabling has been installed in the rover.
- CubeMars motor drivers arrived and are being soldered.
- Ernesto is working on the power filtering system.
- Steering system hardware is available.
- Nanotec gripper components have still not arrived.
- Camera USB cables may be too short and need review.
- Drive system schematic is available.
- Control:
- Control and Embedded systems work together on the laptop.
- Physical testing starts this week.
- Embedded:
- Progress has been made on CubeMars integration.
- Four of seven motors were initially non-functional.
- Discussions with Chinese engineers resolved part of the issue.
- One motor was recovered after flashing new drivers.
- Remaining motor issues are still under investigation.
- Arm movement has been demonstrated successfully.
- Education:
- Nathalie met with UT contacts regarding education activities.
- Event planned for next year's recruits.
- SSTT:
- Communication with SSTT was discussed.
- Events:
- Ludwig has an mBots event tomorrow.
Action Points
Everyone
- Attend the June 25th photoshoot if requested.
- Contact Andrei if you find previous mBot cards.
Candela Cimadevilla Gonzalez
- Organize and lead the rover-layout meeting on Tuesday.
- Discuss steering system implementation with Ernesto.
Myrto Pierrakou
- Work on the battery container design this weekend.
- Purchase printing materials next week.
Zodi Minetti
- Future Factory cleaning duty.
Illia Guzerya
- Office cleaning duty.
Nikolaos (Nick) Diamantopoulos
- Office cleaning duty.
Detailed minutes