Formula WIEEE — Intro To Robotics

Overview

Formula WIEEE was a beginner robotics competition co-hosted by IEEE Concordia and Women in Engineering — a mashup of "WIE" and "IEEE" with an F1-inspired theme. Teams had four weeks to build phone-controlled racing cars from provided kits.

I designed the technical foundation for the entire competition: the workshop curriculum, sample code, and competition format.

My Role

Event	Formula WIEEE — Robot Racing Competition
Attendees	120+ participants
Workshop Duration	2 hours
Role	Technical Lead & Workshop Instructor

What I Built for the Competition

• Technical curriculum covering electronics, programming, and mechanical design
• Sample code so beginners could focus on building, not debugging
• Competition format consultation with organizers
• Presentation materials for the kickoff workshop

Workshop Content

Electronics

• Motor control fundamentals
• Power management and battery safety
• Wiring and connections

Programming

• Microcontroller basics (ESP8266/ESP32)
• WiFi communication
• Phone-to-robot control via RemoteXY

Mechanical Design

• Chassis design principles
• Wheel selection and mounting
• Weight distribution for racing

Materials & Construction

• Working with cardboard, 3D prints, and kit parts
• Rapid prototyping strategies
• Design iteration under time constraints

The Competition

Teams received identical kits containing:

• Microcontroller (ESP8266)
• DC motors and wheels
• Battery pack
• Basic electronic components

Challenge: Design and build a phone-controlled race car. Control method, chassis design, and strategy were up to each team.

Why I made sample code: Programming can be a barrier for first-time builders. I provided working baseline code so teams could compete even if they were new to embedded systems — but left room for improvement so advanced teams could optimize.

Origin Story

This competition format was directly inspired by my experience at Englympic (the QEC qualifier) where we built phone-controlled robots in 8 hours. I thought: "What if we gave beginners four weeks and proper guidance?" Formula WIEEE was the result.