Constitution of the Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Project

(ARVP) of the University of Alberta

September 2015
 Mission Statement

The Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Project (ARVP) exists to apply, develop and promote technology
related to the field of robotics. The ARVP is intended to be an environment for students from all
disciplines, particularly engineering and computing science, to apply the principles they have
learned on a real-world problem, as well as to engage in community outreach to further solidify
their understanding, promote post-secondary education and demonstrate practical uses of robotic
technologies.
I Name and Purpose
I.I Name
The name of the student group shall be the Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Project, and it may also
be referred to as the ARVP.

I.II Objectives and Goals

The group shall operate for the purpose of:
I.II.a. Applying, developing and promoting robotic technology.
I.II.b. Constructing an Autonomous Robotic Vehicle to be entered in an annual competition.

I.II.c. Providing a venue for students to learn and apply real-world concepts as related to
designing and building an autonomous vehicle to be entered in the aforementioned
competition.
I.II.d. Providing community outreach,including but not limited to school visits and univer-
sity functions.

I.III Compliance
ARVP operates at the University of Alberta, subject to University of Alberta policies and proce-
dures. This group will also comply with all local, provincial and federal laws and procedures.

II Membership and Eligibility

II.I Membership and Eligibility
II.I.a. The ARVP team is composed primarily of University of Alberta students representing
interested members from any faculty (e.g. Engineering, Science, Business). As well, it
can include interested members of other educational institutions such as NAIT, inter-
ested members of the University faculty, University of Alberta Alumni, and industry
sponsors so long as the number of non-U of A participants does not exceed 30% of
the total group size.
II.I.b. The ARVP executive committee oversees the design, construction, and financing of
the autonomous vehicle.
II.I.c. The conditions of membership in ARVP are as follows.

(II.I.c.a) To remain in good standing, a member must attend at least one group
meeting, event or work session over an academic year and have their
attendance recorded by the COPPER Team Leader.

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 (II.I.c.b) A member in bad standing is defined as any member who has not at-
tended any group meetings, events or work sessions over the preceding
calendar year, or who has clearly and purposefully worked against the
group’s stated purpose and objectives.
(II.I.c.c) All members in bad standing will be given written notice of this fact
by the executive committee, and will be given three months from the
receipt of this notice to either attend a group event, meeting or work
session, to plan a group event or to propose an alternate measure to
amend the member’s participation. If a member in bad standing fails
to communicate with the executive committee within that time, their
membership privileges will be revoked until the next academic year.

II.II Faculty Advisor

The group will be supervised by a faculty member from the Faculty of Engineering.

III Eligibility and Election of Group Executive Committee

III.I Eligibility
In order to be eligible to hold a position on the executive committee, the following requirements
must be met:
III.I.a. The interested party must be a current University of Alberta student or Alumni,
III.I.b. They must be a current member of the group,
III.I.c. They must have been actively involved with the group for at least one (1) year.
III.I.d. They must be nominated by another member.

III.II Election Procedures

III.II.a. Elections will be monitored by an outgoing member of the Executive Committee. If
there are no outgoing Executive members available, three, non-candidate, General
members will be appointed by the Team Leader to supervise the election process
below.
III.II.b. Election procedures will be held annually at the Succession Meeting (See Article V,
Section III).
III.II.c. Members may be nominated for a position on the Executive Committee by any mem-
ber of the ARVP. The nomination shall be seconded by another member of the ARVP.
Members may be nominated for a consecutive term.
III.II.d. The Executive Committee will be selected by a majority vote of all members of the
ARVP who have attended at least two (2) meetings throughout the year. Members
wishing to do so may cast their vote by secret ballot.

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 III.II.e. Elected executives will hold office for the term beginning August 1st (or from the date
the succession meeting is held, whichever is later) and ending July 31st (or one year
minus a day from the date the succession meeting is held, whichever is later).
III.II.f. General members will have a vote in the election of the Executive Committee, as well
as any outgoing Executive members.

III.II.g. In the event that there is only one candidate in a given category, all voting members
can either vote for or against the candidate.
III.II.h. If the candidate does not have a minimum 50% +1 majority, the candidate will not be
elected and another election for this position will take place at a later date.

III.III Appeals and By-Elections

III.III.a. A candidate or General Member may appeal election results within one week of an-
nouncement of the election results. The appeal should be made in writing to the
Executive Committee, at which time the appeal will be brought up at the next Gen-
eral Meeting or a special meeting called for that purpose. Upon a 2/3 majority vote
of the General Membership in favour of the appeal, the position in contention will be
brought up for re-election at the next General Meeting following the standard elec-
tion procedures. If the results of this election should remain the same, the issue is
considered resolved, and the decision may not be re-appealed.

III.III.b. If an executive position should be vacated, the Team Leader will, with 2/3 executive
support, appoint a new member to that position for the remainder of the term. If the
position being vacated is the Team Leader position, a current member of the Execu-
tive Committee shall be nominated to fill the position, with 2/3 General Membership
support.

IV Executive Committee
IV.I Executive Committee
The Executive Committee will be composed of (with the term ’Team Leads’ used interchangeably):
IV.I.a. the Team Leader
In the event that there is no Team Leader selected, the position may be divided into
b) and c) below:

IV.I.b. the Technical Team Leader

IV.I.c. the Administrative Team Leader
IV.I.d. the Electrical Team Leader
IV.I.e. the Mechanical Team Leader

IV.I.f. the Software Team Leader

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 IV.I.g. the COPPER (Community Outreach, Presentations, Promotions and External Rela-
tions) Team Leader

IV.II Duties of Executive Committee Members

IV.II.a. the Team Leader will:
(IV.II.a.a) Determine an overall agenda for the ARVP team meetings and inform
members as to the dates and times of the meetings at least two working
days in advance.
(IV.II.a.b) Ensure that open lines of communication are maintained between the
different teams.
(IV.II.a.c) Manage sponsorship, marketing, administration, financial planning, and
recruitment of new members, and web page management details for the
ARVP.
(IV.II.a.d) Verify and approve ARVP sponsorship proposals.
(IV.II.a.e) Confirm that the previous years allocation of funds was used appropri-
ately.
(IV.II.a.f) Initiate action in the event that funding in any previous year has been
misappropriated. The Engineering Students Projects Fund Committee
(ESPFC) must approve these actions.
(IV.II.a.g) Report ARVP committee actions to the ESPFC.
(IV.II.a.h) Direct the overall expenditure of funds in conjunction with other ARVP
Committee members
(IV.II.a.i) Be appointed by the previous years Team Leader based on experience
(more than one candidate can be appointed). This appointment shall
be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the previous years ARVP team
members.
(IV.II.a.j) In the event that the Team Leader is split into the Technical and Admin-
istrative positions:
(IV.II.a.k) the two Team Leaders will share the tasks equally, however,
(IV.II.a.l) the Administrative Leader will focus primarily on day-to-day adminis-
trative tasks, while maintaining open communication with the COPPER
team leader,
(IV.II.a.m) the Technical Leader will focus on platform design, analysis and con-
struction while maintaining open communication with the electrical, me-
chanical and software teams.
IV.II.b. the Electrical Team Leader will:
(IV.II.b.a) Will be appointed by the group based on experience. The appointment
shall be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the general membership.
(IV.II.b.b) Manage the design, analysis and construction of the electrical compo-
nents of the vehicle.

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 IV.II.c. the Mechanical Team Leader will:
(IV.II.c.a) Will be appointed by the group based on experience. The appointment
shall be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the general membership.
(IV.II.c.b) Manage the design, analysis and construction of the electrical compo-
nents of the vehicle.
IV.II.d. the Software Team Leader will:
(IV.II.d.a) Will be appointed by the group based on experience. The appointment
shall be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the general membership.
(IV.II.d.b) Manage the design, analysis, and writing of the software necessary to
operate the autonomous vehicle.
IV.II.e. The COPPER Team Leader
(IV.II.e.a) Will be appointed by the group based on experience. The appointment
shall be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the general membership.
(IV.II.e.b) Manage the promotional materials, outreach and community events hosted
by ARVP.
(IV.II.e.c) Develop and distribute sponsorship proposals.

IV.III Division of Responsibility

Sub-team leadership positions may be held by more than one, but not more than two individuals
upon agreement of such at the yearly succession meeting. If there are two individuals holding the
same leadership position, they are then considered to be ’co-leaders’, and will divide the responsi-
bilities of the position with the assistance from the Project Team Leader, as befitting their time and
abilities.

IV.IV Multiple Positions

In extreme situations (such as Article III, Section IIh), a sub-team leader may hold multiple posi-
tions if necessary, and there is no other team member available to fill the other position.

V Meetings
V.I Annual General Meeting
The annual general meeting shall be held within the first month of the fall term.

V.II Meetings
V.II.a. The ARVP team and committee shall meet a minimum of once per month.
V.II.b. Following meetings shall be held on a minimum of a monthly basis thereafter on an
agreed upon day.

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 V.II.c. The committee or work teams may choose to hold additional meetings, as they deem
necessary.
V.II.d. All active members will be notified by e-mail at least two (2) days before the meeting
is to take place.

V.II.e. The team leader will take meeting minutes (or assign an individual to do so) and
provide those minutes to all team members in a timely fashion after the meeting has
taken place.

V.III Succession Meeting

The succession meeting will take place at the end of July or beginning of August, after the compe-
tition, to determine who will comprise the new executive for the following year.

V.IV Quorum
V.IV.a. In any situation where a vote must be held amongst the general membership and/or
executive, a quorum of 3/4 of the executive committee will be employed, in addition
to a quorum of 2/3 of the general membership.
V.IV.b. This quorum shall be mandatory in executive elections, constitutional amendments,
and any vote that occurs within a general/executive meeting.
V.IV.c. If quorum is not met, the motion cannot be considered valid and the topic/election
must be tabled until a time at which quorum can be met.

VI Amendments to the Constitution

Members may propose amendments to the constitution during the succession meeting. Any
amendments to the constitution must be passed to any members who will be part of the ARVP
for the following year, and will voted on at the first meeting of the new executive. Amendments
to the constitution must then pass by a 2/3 majority vote to become part of the constitution.

VII Disciplinary Action of the ARVP Committee

VII.I Misallocation of Funds
If it is determined that allocated funds are not being used for their intended purpose, the any cul-
pable individuals will be banned for one (1) academic year from participating in the ARVP. Further
actions will be initiated by the Chair/Vice-Chair of the ESPFC as specified in the Engineering Stu-
dent Project Fund Bylaws.

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VII.II Impeachment/Removal and Replacement of Executives and Members
VII.II.a. Members in bad standing will be removed from the group in compliance with Article
II, Section I.c.c.
VII.II.b. If an Executive Member fails to fulfill the duties of their position, any General or Exec-
utive Member may petition for their impeachment. The Team Leader, or in the event
the Team Leader is the one in question, the COPPER Team Leader, is responsible to
present the evidence and petition to the group’s membership at its next meeting, and
the impeachment will pass with a 2/3 vote

VIII ARVP Finances

All funds allocated and provided to the ARVP will be held in an account managed by the Depart-
ment of Mechanical Engineering and disbursed as needed by the group with the approval of the
Faculty Advisor (See Article X).

VIII.I Primary Purpose

The primary purpose for assets is to adequately fund the various teams in order to successfully
complete and ultimately send a robotic vehicle to competition.

VIII.II Secondary Purpose

Additional funds may be allocated to providing and facilitating outreach activities in keeping with
ARVP’s mission statement.

VIII.III Appreciation of Sponsorship

An appropriate sum of money shall be set aside for the purpose of purchasing appreciation letters
(at a minimum) for sponsors and other contributors.

VIII.IV Surplus
Surplus monies will go to the subsequent years gross amount.

IX Show of Thanks
IX.I Appreciation
Appreciation letters etc. shall be purchased with the money reserved for that purpose.

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IX.II Responsibility
The Project Leader will be responsible for ensuring that sponsors receive some show of thanks for
monetary, material or service donations in a reasonable amount of time following their contribu-
tion.

X Signing Authority
The Faculty Advisor, who is a professor with the Faculty of Engineering, has the financial signing
authority. It is the responsibility of the administrative team leader, or team leader in the event that
this position is held by only one person, to work with the Faculty Advisor to order supplies and
manage the financial resources required by the group.

XI Membership in Student Vehicle Projects

As a Student Vehicle Project, ARVP will comply with all rules and regulations regarding Student
Vehicle Projects, Student Groups and student behavior set out by the Faculty of Engineering and
its departments.

XII Dissolution
The group may be dissolved by a 3/4 majority vote at a special General Meeting announced at
least 90 days prior.
As the group’s existence is dictated by the Faculty of Engineering, dissolution of the group will
continue until the end of the current school year, at which time the group may be revived with
sufficient membership to sustain the activities of the group.
For this reason, all remaining financial resources will remain under the control of the Department
of Mechanical Engineering in the account allocated for ARVP funds.

XIII Superseding Clause

This document completely supersedes any anterior versions of the ARVP bylaws.

XIV Coming into Force

These bylaws shall come into force when ARVP gains recognition of being an official student group
in the year 2014-2015.