Module 1: Introduction to Onboarding
Welcome to Racerbot onboarding. Every applicant accepted from the questionnaire goes through it to become an active member. This page is Stage 1, the part everyone on a technical team does first.
- Apply questionnaire
- You are here Stage 1 due two weeks after applications close
- Team Interview with your subteam
- Stage 2 onboarding and probation, up to eight weeks
- Active Member after your probation review
Stage 1 is due two weeks after the day applications close (one month for the Fall 2026 intake). That includes passing all five quizzes. Book your team interview from Discord once you are close to finishing. If you miss the deadline you can apply again in the next window, and a completed Stage 1 stays valid for twelve months.
How onboarding works
- Stage 1 (this page). Online and self-paced: find your way around the club, then complete Lectures 1–4, Tutorial 1 and Lab 1 from the F1TENTH course and pass five short quizzes. No lab access or equipment needed.
- Team Interview. A conversation with the one subteam you choose, about your motivation, availability and how you work, and what you took from Stage 1. It is not a technical exam.
- Stage 2 and probation. Once your interview passes you join the subteam. Stage 2 is that team’s own track: SFU, FAS and Racerbot safety training first, then the team’s coursework and real tasks. It takes up to eight weeks.
- Active Member. After your probation review: full membership, a vote in club decisions and a place on the team roster.
How to work through this page
- Go in order. Each module builds on the one before it. Use the module list to move between them.
- Use everything on the cards: videos, slides, our own team-written notes and quizzes. Make your own notes as you go.
- Tick each task as you finish it. Progress is saved in this browser only, so clearing site data resets it.
- Stuck? Module 2 shows where to look for answers and how to ask for help.
Discord is how the club runs
Onboarding updates, deadlines and interview booking are all posted on Discord, and you are expected to keep up with them.
- Check Discord regularly while you onboard.
- Turn notifications on for mentions and for #onboarding-announcements.
- Ask questions in #onboarding-general or #help.
Module 2: Get acquainted with Racerbot
Before the technical work, learn which source to use for which question. Explore each one now so you can find context, instructions and help later without guessing.
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Introduce yourself to the club
Post a short introduction in the Discord onboarding introduction channel so other new members and the team can get to know you.
Paste-ready structure:
Name:
Major:
Year or age: share whichever you are comfortable with
Interests or hobbies:
Fun fact: -
Find your way around the Racerbot website
Start at the Resources hub. Locate onboarding, learning tools, safety and governance, IT services, code repositories and the run library.
Use it for: club-specific instructions, policies, setup help and the current path through onboarding.
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Understand the RoboRacer ecosystem
RoboRacer is the wider autonomous racing platform and community that the club builds on. Its official site covers the car, course, simulator and races.
Use it for: official platform context, course material, build references and competition information.
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Know the club's GitHub resources
The SFU Racerbot organization holds the club's code. Start with racerbot-docs for notes, labs and guides; racerbot_ws is the shared ROS 2 development workspace used to run and build the software.
Use it for: source code, team documentation, issue history and the files behind the technical work.
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Know how to ask for help
Use the help channel on Discord when the website, official RoboRacer material and racerbot-docs do not answer your question.
Give useful context: link the page or repo, say what you are trying to do, what you already tried and include the exact error.
Module 3: ROS, RoboRacer & the Simulator
Start the technical curriculum: autonomous driving context, ROS 2 basics, simulator concepts and the first hands-on lab, followed by safety and coordinate frames. Each item includes the material and its matching quiz.
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Lecture 1: Introduction to Autonomous Driving
Introduces ROS 2, RoboRacer, autonomous vehicle fundamentals and the simulation tools used throughout the course.
Key concepts: the perception, planning and control pipeline; why racing stresses the safety–performance tradeoff; the F1TENTH car and the Jetson workflow.
More: hands-on ROS 2 primer and the official ROS 2 Humble tutorials.
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Tutorial 1: Introduction to ROS 2
Build practical ROS 2 skills by creating packages, publisher/subscriber nodes and launch files, and by working with Docker-based development environments.
Key concepts: packages, publisher/subscriber nodes, launch files, Docker development environments.
More: set up your machine with the dev environment setup guide, then drive the sim with the simulator quickstart.
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Lab 1: Introduction to ROS 2
Build practical ROS 2 skills hands-on. You must show a working build.
Key concepts: applying Tutorial 1 for real: workspace, packages, publisher/subscriber nodes and launch files.
More: new to ROS 2? The hands-on primer covers everything this lab assesses.
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Lecture 2: Automatic Emergency Braking
Introduces range sensors and Time-to-Collision (TTC) based safety methods for detecting obstacles and implementing Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB).
Key concepts: LiDAR range data, time-to-collision, automatic emergency braking.
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Lecture 3: Rigid Body Transformations
Introduces state estimation, coordinate frames, rigid-body transformations and ROS 2 TF2 for tracking and transforming poses and sensor data between reference frames.
Key concepts: coordinate frames, rigid-body transformations, ROS 2 tf2.
More: how tf2 works (official ROS 2 docs) and Northwestern's Modern Robotics chapters and videos on rigid-body motions.
Module 4: Reactive Methods
Reactive control starts here: Laplace-domain dynamics and PID, the control idea the Stage 2 labs build on.
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Lecture 4: Laplace Domain Dynamics & PID
Introduces feedback control and PID-based wall following, along with the practical setup, calibration and operation of the F1TENTH race car.
Key concepts: Laplace-domain dynamics, PID control, wall following; car setup, calibration and operation.
Module 5: Quizzes
- Unlimited retries: you can retake each quiz until you pass.
- Immediate results: your score is shown right after you submit.
Complete the matching material before attempting a quiz. If you need to retry, review the material first rather than guessing answers. Stage 1 coursework is Lectures 1-4, Tutorial 1 and Lab 1.
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Lecture and Tutorial 1 Quiz
Pass: more than 70%. Unlimited retries.
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Lab 1 Quiz
Pass: more than 70%. Unlimited retries.
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Lecture 2 Quiz
Pass: more than 70%. Unlimited retries.
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Lecture 3 Quiz
Pass: more than 70%. Unlimited retries.
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Lecture 4 Quiz
Pass: more than 70%. Unlimited retries.
Pass all five quizzes with more than 70% on each to complete Stage 1. Stage 2 continues inside your chosen subteam.
Stage 1 complete
Congratulations — you made it to the end of Stage 1.
Book an interview for one team only. Use the booking link in #interview-instructions on Discord and include your chosen team when you book. You can reserve a slot before finishing the quizzes, but you must pass all five before your interview.
This round has 100 slots. Book as soon as possible; extra slots are only considered for unexpected circumstances.
Interview times
Interview times and the booking link are in #interview-instructions on Discord. Check there for the current times; they change each intake.
Expect questions about your work habits, interest in the club and what you retained from onboarding. Knowing Stage 2 material is welcome too.
No-shows automatically fail. If something serious comes up, tell us before your interview. Ask questions in onboarding-general.
Stage 1 complete. Congratulations.