Student Projects and Robotics Club (SPARC)

Organization Photo
Purpose:

The Student Projects and Robotics Club (SPARC) is a student led organization at Auburn University that creates and fosters an environment of creativity and innovation through collaborative projects. No matter their major, students should only need a willingness to learn and grow to participate in an experience that will allow them to test out ideas, integrate concepts learned in class, and learn skills that will be instrumental when working in the workforce. SPARC each semester selects a few projects to work on and dedicates the space and tools of the “makerspace” style SPARC lab to develop those projects.


Social Media
youtube
Website:
http://sparc.eng.auburn.edu/

Meetings:
SPARC has one general non-mandatory meeting every other week this semester, Fall 2021. The meeting takes place in Broun 235 on Wednesdays from 6pm to 7pm. The meeting has three different parts. The first part consists of an introduction to the organization and announcements of upcoming events. The second part is a discussion of the status of all the active projects. The third is a 20 to 30 minute special presentation or maker training session. A special presentation is usually centered around a topic about engineering, technology, or making such as blockchain, neural networks, virtual reality, additive manufacturing, etc. Maker training sessions are short introductory lessons on a useful skill for SPARC projects such as 3D CAD, 3D printing, electrical prototyping, microcontrollers, Linux and microcomputer development, etc. General Meetings (non-mandatory) are held at 6-7pm in Broun 235. The dates of the meetings for the Fall 2021 semester are as follows: Aug. 25 Sept. 8 Sept. 22 Oct. 20 Nov. 3 Nov. 17 Dec. 1

Office Location:
Broun 367

Shop Location:
Broun Hall 367

Projects, outreach, competitions, conferences, etc.:


Projects

  • MATILDA Military Robotics Platform- reverse engineering and retrofitting an old bomb disposal robot
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems- assembling and experimenting with quadcopters
  • Musical Tesla Coil- design and build a solid-state tesla coil capable of playing music with electric arcs
  • Ultrasonic Levatator- An array of ultrasonic drivers capable of making small objects levitate
  • Autonomous Golf Cart- A self driving golf cart that will one day navigate Auburn's campus. Our most ambitious project yet.

Outreach

  • E-Day- (February) demonstrate projects to middle and high school students alongside other engineering organizations
  • Opelika HS Robotics team- mentor a BEST and FRC team
  • HS Robotics Competitions- volunteer at BEST, VEX, and FIRST robotics competition


President/Captain:
William Yates
wsy0001@auburn.edu

E-Council Rep:
Drake Mossman
dcm0049@auburn.edu

Advisor:
Dr. Thaddeus Roppel
roppeth@auburn.edu

Category: Competition Team, Academic, Professional,
Related Major: All Majors