Baja Charter

Developed in part by Brock

Competition Season Written in 2024 - 2025

Subteam Sepcific

Your lead will go over this later with just your sub team

1. Software

Overview of Whole Club

Based on the 2018 Baja Charter

UCalgary Baja is a performance team. We are committed to designing, building, and completing an off-road vehicle. Our intent is to develop the best vehicle possible and place it in the top 10 in competition. To achieve this goal UCalgary Baja enlists high-performing, committed and passionate individuals.

UCalgary Baja is a team comprised of students who want to expand and apply their knowledge of engineering principles and develop a skill set to aid in their development as engineers. It is important to note that UCalgary Baja does not exclusively recruit “car enthusiasts”. UCalgary Baja provides you with opportunities to realize your developmental aspirations.

UCalgary Baja believes in the mantra You get out what you put in. We’re excited to have you and your unique individual skills and experience contributing to the mission of creating the best car possible. The lessons you will learn and the accomplishments you will make are up to you, and UCalgary Baja will gladly work alongside you to push you to your limits and beyond.

What do you get out of Baja

This is based on the 2018 Baja charter

Camaraderie & Lasting Friendships

UCalgary Baja is a team where strong, long-lasting friendships are made. This camaraderie aids in both successful teamwork and personal well-being. Outside of the workshop, team members network between classes they share with one another. As well, the team is no stranger to celebrating a hard-working day by going out together to catch a movie, grab refreshments, or even just hang out.

Career Opportunities

UCalgary Baja provides you the opportunity to network with industry professionals from numerous industries, most notably in the automotive sector with the likes of Honda, Ford Motor Company, Volvo, Cummins, and many more. Alumni from the team have established engineering careers at such companies as these.

Code of Conduct

Based on the 2018 Baja Charter

Although this does not apply, for the most part, to the Software Subteam, these are all important, including the safety aspects. Safety should allow for any leave of absence or refusal of work.

UCalgary Baja reserves the right to remove any team member from the team if they are not compliant with the Code of Conduct. All issues will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. We are investing in you and are here to work with you to make you and UCalgary Baja successful.

1. Safety is a core value. We care about keeping you safe! Continual negligence and disregard for safety will result in removal from the team. Safety is regarding:
   • Shop Safety
            
     • Safety glasses are mandatory in the garage and hot works space
     • Close-toed shoes, long cotton pants and cotton long sleeves/shop smocks must be worn in the hot works area
     • Additional signage will be adhered to
     • A positive attitude is expected when reminded of the shop rules.
        
   • Tool Safety - Abide by Team Policies and the SOP. Team Policies often have further precautions than the SOPs
      
   • Housekeeping - All members are expected to assist in keeping workspaces tidy and egress paths clear.
      
   • Driving - The rules of the road will be followed (i.e. speed limits shall not be exceeded when driving on behalf of UCalgary Baja, including rentals)
      
   • Alcohol and Drug Use
     • No member shall enter the garage or hot works space under the influence of drugs or alcohol
            
     • A 0.00 BAC is expected when handling tools or operating the vehicle
2. Commitment and Involvement
   • Treated the same as involvement in 1 to 2 engineering courses per semester
   • Members are responsible for managing their time to ensure coursework and UCalgary Baja work are both completed
   • You acknowledge that you are committed to this team and you understand that sacrifices will need to be made to to be a fully contributing member. Remember, You get out what you put in!
   • It is expected that you will give assigned projects your best effort
   • You will meet project deliverable deadlines
   • You will be called upon by the team if and when you are needed regarding your project and others’ projects
   • You will help your teammates achieve their goals
3. Conduct    
   • You will exercise due diligence in all of your dealings on the team, be it in ensuring your designs, performing shop work, and respecting external relations with sponsors, vendors, and university administration.
      
   • You are an ambassador for the UCalgary Baja, the Schulich School of Engineering and the University of Calgary and will act accordingly
4. Attendance
   • Used to determine eligibility for competition.
   • You will inform your Team Lead if you are unable to attend and a reason why. Team Leads are responsible for informing the Team Captain on who is unable to make meetings
   • Consistent lack of attendance may result in removal from the team
   • Leave of Absence is always excused when safety is involved this will not count against your eligibility
     • Abuse of this policy will be considered and will count against your eligibility for competition.
   • All attendance issues will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis

These rules can be superseded by the university rules or the club code of conduct. These rules can also be superseded by governing bodies such as the government of any jurisdiction that work that software is applicable or is conducted in

Other bodies that could possibly have a say are IEEE (I triple E), the worker's Board of Alberta, Health and Safety Boards, etc.

How do I report

If you wish to report a violation of any of these rules please talk to any of the lead(s) that you feel most comfortable with or the Captain.

This will be investigated promptly and action will be taken depending on the severity.

Consequences / Infractions

1. Continuing underperformance and/or not meeting deliverables or commitments will lower your standing/ranking in attending competition
2. If there is still continued underperformance, UCalgary Baja may enact removal from the team

It is important to note that issues and concerns in performance addressed by UCalgary Baja will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis for every member. UCalgary Baja understands that there are circumstances in life that are beyond anyone’s control and will work with you to best solve these issues. If issues continue to persist and impact your ability to fulfill your commitment to UCalgary Baja, approach us to have a discussion and we can have you reevaluate roles and responsibilities on the team.

Roles and Expectations

based upon the 2018 Baja Charter

All Members

• Your position on this team is a privilege, not a right.
• All members will follow through with commitments in a timely matter or inform your Team Lead/Team Captain if you cannot.
• Will be present and attend meetings/workdays on time at the times specified.
• Unless Exceptions are given either by the Software Lead or Team Captain
• This includes an Internship program where Wednesdays are optional
• Exams always
• Safety always
• Software Lead is on Internship, Wednesdays will either be optional or lead by a Senior member or Future Software Lead
• Team members will need to be a part of all phases of your assigned project and possibly projects that you aren't part of - Design, & Coding. This ensures that mistakes, issues, and concerns are addressed ASAP and corrected accordingly.
• Asking questions is encouraged and is the greatest way for you to learn. Every member will be open to taking questions. If you are unable to answer a question either admit that “I don’t know”, or suggest someone who may be better qualified to answer the question. Asking questions is beneficial for both parties as it expands the asker’s knowledge base, and keeps the question recipient current with their knowledge
• Googling the docs or Stackoverflow is a great start

Juniors

• Are expected to work and ask questions. Enthusiasm to learn and a positive attitude is a must!

Intermediates

• In addition to Junoir Member roles and expectations:
• Expected to carry out some of their own research and ask whatever questions they may have about their project. They may not necessarily know everything about the language/project but must make an effort to verse themselves as completely as they can.
• Can Volunteer to teach Juniors and other members new skills and assist in the transfer of knowledge.
• A Developmental level amount of time management to ensure adequate research and development of your design projects is a must.

Seniors

• In addition to Intermediate Member roles and expectations:
• Expected to carry out their own research and ask whatever questions they may have about their project. They may not necessarily know everything about the language/project but must make an effort to verse themselves as completely as they can.
• Are expected to be able to take on more challenging design projects on the vehicle.
• Effective time management to ensure adequate research and development of your design projects is a must.
• During each season, must be willing to teach Juniors and other members new skills and assist in a transfer of knowledge.
• Can request a member be reassigned to another group
• Must check in regularly with everyone in their group to ensure they are learning and making progress on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
• Reports will also be conducted by the team lead

Team Leads

• In addition to Senior Member roles and expectations:
• Are responsible for all members, projects, components, and hardware within their system. If progress is not being made, it is their responsibility to work with the designer/programmer to ensure timelines are met.
• May assign and reassign projects as they see fit.
• Must empower, guide, and facilitate their members learning and projects.
• Must check in regularly with everyone on their system team to ensure they are learning and making progress on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
• Enforce with encouragement what teammates are learning and provide insight on their designs.
• Will work alongside their future lead. This does not mean offloading your workload to the future lead as a means to shy away from Baja's responsibilities and commitments.
• Expected to be the final decision maker regarding any project within their system.
• The Software lead will be in consistent contact with Senior members to ensure that a project is running smoothly.
• Team leads will be in consistent contact with one another (primarily Electrical and Business) to ensure designs housed/shared by systems are working in tandem.

Future Team Leads

• In addition to Senior Member roles and expectations:
• Work alongside their team lead to learn how to manage the system team
• Act to the best of their ability to aid and advise the system team lead concerning current and future work and tasks to be done
• Act to the best of their ability to provide design insight to fellow system teammates under the direction of his or her system lead

Seasons

There are multiple phases throughout the year. As UCalgary Baja is a competition team focused on performing well all members are expected to have full involvement in each phase. The Baja year can be broken down into the following cycle (It is important to note that each phase may feather into one another):

Timelines in Software are flexible this is a guide to the year not a set in stone, some project scopes may take longer than others.

2025 Season Edit Mech/Electrical

This year the school has reduced the nubmer of shop tech hours and removed many alot of the shop time in favor of a class, this mean that everyone is under crunch and we only get a limited amount of time, limited number of people we can train to work in the machine and one designated cnc machine that must be used or we lose it

Summer - Testing Mech/Electrical

This is when UCalgary Baja tests the previous vehicle to influence designs for the future vehicle. Testing consists of gathering data from the previous vehicle to influence design decisions for the new vehicle. Such tests may include strain gauge impact testing, vehicle roll testing, transmission dynamometer characterization, etc.

Summer Semster 2025 Season Edit Mech/Electrical

The new car designs start here, we need something for Fall to be made. This does not mean summer testing cant happen at the same time but rather creating something for the Fall manufacting timeslot is more important.

Summer - Testing Software

The software could get involved in this time, this time should primarily be used for the setup/preparation for the new season, recruitment period, and any SSAF requests and allowing for the new lead to get situated and plan the projects for the year, this time also allows the old lead to mentor as well as they can the new lead. This is a time where a break can be taken such as only meeting every second week.

Fall Semster 2025 Season Edit Whole Team

A number of deliverables get done

1. SSAF funding for the main manufacturing period (Winter Semster)
2. Recuitment

Fall Semester - Design Mech/Electrical

The design period involves brainstorming, drafts, CAD modelling, design reviews, system collaboration, document creation, drawing submission, hardware sourcing, material sourcing and manufacture sourcing for all projects.

Fall Semster 2025 Season Edit Mech/Electrical

For fall this means that as much manufacting as possible happens here, any finished designs are manufactured by the new (and forced upon) manufacting group/team, this happens at the same time as designs are being made/CADed.

New members of the manufacting group are trained during this time, the number of new people is determined by the university/machine shop and then is selected based upon commitment and free time during the week (sorry we this sometimes happens to be the only times available for us to get into the shop)

Fall Semester - Easier Projects Software

This is the time when either your first or the easier projects happen, typically the projects involve higher-level languages like Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS or high-level programming where the background level is low, it should be typically reserved for learning opportunities even if the club needs the tool. This is a time for learning and enforcing good programming rules. Recruitment also happens during this time which reduces the amount of time able to be spent on complex projects.

Winter Semester - Fabrication Mech/Electrical

Time to get your hands dirty! Fabrication is when the car is built and parts are submitted to machine shops. Learn to use tools and understand the importance of designing for manufacturability. This period provides the opportunity to learn the most about the vehicle, how its projects and systems work together, and assemble a vehicle!

Winter Semster 2025 Season Edit Mech/Electrical

Not much changes here other than the manufacting team is in full swing, anything else that is made outside of the machine shop goes on as normal.

Winter Semester - Harder Projects Software

The concepts learned from the fall semester are now built upon in more difficult tasks such as testing (boundary, inner whatever the lead decides is appropriate to accomplish) This time can also be spent wrapping up easier projects, possibly continuing on with projects that were originally thought to be easy but instead turned out to be difficult

Late Winter to Early Spring - Pre-Competition Testing Mech/Electrical

In this phase, tests will be performed to validate the new vehicle’s designs. Examples of tests performed are torsion tests, locating center-of-gravity, impact testing, transmission dynamometer, etc.

Late Winter to Early Spring 2025 Season Edit Mech/Electrical

Normally this is our crunch time, please expect to spend up to 13 hours a day on Baja. This does not mean school comes second, this is just meant to inform you

Late Winter to Early Spring Software

No changes from the start of the Winter Semester The addition of the Online Cost Report is the responsibility of the lead and senior members collaborating with electrical members. Rules for software as of the 2025 season If any data collection system is on the car it must be included then a software component of the Online cost report must be completed.

The SSAF travel fund is a priority and any work can be stopped to help finish it

We do not go to comp if no SSAF travel fund is completed

Just Before Competition - Vehicle Tuning & Driver Training Mech/Electrical

Vehicle tuning consists of testing and recording multiple setups of the drivetrain, suspension, and braking systems. This allows the team to find the best settings for each event the vehicle will come up against. Alongside tuning, drivers who prove themselves as confident, comfortable, and skilled in the driver’s seat will be chosen to drive specific events at the competition. Efforts will be taken to emulate events and train drivers accordingly.

Just Before Competition 2025 Season Edit Whole Team

A SSAF funding round happeens so that we get buy things for the Fall Semster manufacturing period

Just Before Competition Software

If reasonable Software transforms into the tool fetchers if work is behind

Other tasks include cleaning the truck (with a shop vac) cleaning the trailer (sweeping dirt out) and removing any garbage from the truck and trailer.

The reason why is that your fellow members are going to spend 10+ hours living there, so make sure it is comfortable for them and so that they do not have to clean it before driving to the competition

Reasonable is no juniors or other members available to perform this task.

The highest priority is to get the car out the door.

May to June - Competition

The moment we’ve all been waiting for! Competition is where all your blood, sweat, and tears invested in the vehicle pay off. It is the ultimate testament to what the vehicle was designed to do. The competition consists of static events (business and design presentations), dynamic events (acceleration, maneuverability, hill climb, suspension & traction, and rock crawl), and finally a 4-hour endurance race.

May to June - Competition Software

We help where we can, that could be running the sim for the driver, fetching tools (hence why the previous phase), taking photos, helping businesses, helping where you can

Repeat

Summer is the transition phase, and Fall is the start of a new season Prepare for the next phase as well as you can