We have an exciting update on the Buggy Enhancement Grant drone project. This week was our first test of automatically generating composite images of the driver’s line for every buggy for a full day of rolls. This system enables quick turnaround for driver’s to analyze their line and make incremental improvements as they work up to raceday speed. The original drone footage gives an incomparable view of the speed and handling of the buggy as the driver navigates through the chute, and the composite images highlight minute differences in the geometry of the turn.
This is a multidisciplinary multi-organization project led by Tjaden “TJ” Bridges of SDC, and received funding as part of the spring 2024 Buggy Enhancement Grant campaign. It truly captures the spirit of the Buggy Enhancement Grant program by making the sport faster, safer, and more enjoyable for everyone.
The footage and images are tools for you to make your team safer and faster. They are not a substitute for caution and good judgement in how the drivers, mechanics, and pushers plan how to safely get the team up to speed.
Behind the Scenes
On the Ground
The biggest challenge for this project came from the logistics of getting permission from everyone to have the drone in the air during their rolls and ensuring all of the equipment is prepped and ready for every day of rolls.
In the Air
Wind conditions permitting, we record from 50 meters above the northwest corner of Schenley Drive and Frew Street with the camera is tilted down at 55 degrees. We try to keep a few meters leading up to the chute flag in view so drivers have good feedback on the timing of when they should start the turn.
On the Web
The image compositing is done with an OpenCV Python script. A background subtractor generates an on the fly model of the road and highlights differences between frames. A blob detector then identifies candidate moving objects in each frame, and a set of Kalman filters track the trajectories between frames. This allows us to filter out small motion and slow moving objects, but the occasional goose in flight still gets its own line photo. The relevant frames are all aligned to the first frame for each buggy, and the tracking data gives us a mask to efficiently apply a bit of math to the pixel values that selectively lightens or darkens the composite image. Labeling the images with the org/buggy is still a manual process, but we’re working on training an image classifier to auto tag the images.
It was Great Race Weekend in Pittsburgh, which means no permits for Sunday Rolls. In past years that meant cancelling the full weekend, but this crew didn’t let that stop them; they still rolled on Saturday morning. This was a very efficient day of rolls, with almost no incidents to speak of. The teams got a lot of practice and another returning organization made their season debut, read on!
I am overjoyed to announce that 100% of the grant applications we received for the Fall 2025 grant campaign have been funded! Thank you to all of our applicants for taking time to assemble such strong applications!
Caroline Kiesnowski received funding to install an electrical hookup for the shared mill that resides between the Fringe and Apex shops.
Adithi Phadke received funding to build RTK data loggers for SPIRIT Racing Systems.
Frank Robb received funding to purchase FIA impact data recorders for potentially the entire fleet of rolling buggies. The grant funds hardware for any rolling buggy, so please reach out if you are interested in collecting this data for your team.
Wade Gordon received funding to purchase software and equipment to facilitate getting real time footage from a drone to the broadcast truck.
Another weekend of beautiful weather for buggy! We had two smooth days of rolls with only a few incidents, and all were just the type of actions you would expect to see as new drivers start gaining speed. We saw the same 6 orgs out again this weekend, we hope to see a few more returning teams back soon, read on for more details!
Roadrunner rolling out, one of 5 CIA buggies from this weekend
Welcome to Sweepstakes 2026! Dan Becerra, your duly elected rolls reporter, back for another year where I will do my best to report on the teams, the incidents, and the storylines leading up to Raceday (April 9 & 10!). This is the earliest calendar date for rolls since the BAA has kept records of this (back to at least 2008). Kudos to the five large independent orgs and Robobuggy making a quorum for this early first weekend. Read on to see which buggies came out this year including at least one not seen for a while!
Blue skies, empty lawns, and a group of people staring at one very specific patch of road – it’s buggy season!
This week, the 100+ Years of Buggy History series continues on its “fourth school year post-Raceday” schedule and brings you…2022! After a 2 year postponement, we’re finally able to celebrate Buggy100! It’s the first Raceday of the post-COVID era, though “post-COVID” is a bit of a misnomer since COVID affects at least 1 team on Raceday. It’s also the first Raceday of the post-Skibo Gym era, meaning one fewer lane for teams to roll in. And mother nature made for a rocky return in the Spring. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
It is time to submit your ideas for Buggy Enhancement Grants for the fall semester! We have over $12,000 available for this round of funding. This money belongs to you as a member of the buggy community to enhance your enjoyment of the sport! If you have ideas that you think will enhance your buggy experience, we want to hear from you!
Submissions are due by September 15, and will be reviewed by the Buggy Endowed Fund Committee the following week. Applicants will have 1 week to respond to committee feedback before the final vote. Approved grants will then be announced October 1st.
Proposals can be specific to your team. Please include some details on how the community as a whole will benefit from funding your project. For example, you might share documentation of your process, publish a video, or give a talk about your findings. You might build something to collect better data during rolls, test out a new material, or build something to make chores easier.
For RD 2025 Buggy Enhancement Grants, we approved $5,573 to fund 7 projects from 8 different organizations.
For more information on the grant program, including previously approved grant applications, materials and findings from previously approved grants, how to spend your grant money, and more, please read All About Buggy Enhancement Grants.
Our members expressed their confidence in the candidates that were running unopposed, and Lewis Rockwell has won the race for Vice President.
If you are interested in running for a BAA board position, we will be holding elections for VP, Treasurer, Communications, Teams Liaison (formerly known as Quartermaster), and Rolls Reporter next year. In the mean time, you can get involved with the BAA by joining a committee. Reach out to the committee chairs on Discord if you are interested.
The elected positions for next years BAA Board are:
This year we are holding regular elections for President, Secretary, Graphics Chair, and Information Services Manager. Additionally, we are holding a special election to fill a vacancy for Vice President. The responsibilities of the BAA Board and the election procedures are defined in the Bylaws and Constitution.
President
The President of the BAA is the most public facing position. The President interfaces with students, alumni and the university to promote buggy initiatives. This role requires diplomacy and eliminating all biases towards individuals or organizations. Important skills for the role are relationship development, negotiation, leadership, and project management. Time commitment is roughly 5 hours a week for most of the year, ramping up to 15-20 in the month leading into raceday.
Jeremy Tuttle
I’m running for re-election as President of the BAA because my heart is still in the work. Over the last year, the BAA has made huge strides, many of which I’ve already talked about in our newsletters. Most recently, I’m proud to have rallied and organized the volunteers required to not only make Bonus Raceday happen, but also make it memorable, special, and as close to a normal raceday in quality of coverage and amenities as possible. I am eager to continue leading the BAA for another two years, and once again, I ask and thank you all for your continued support.
Vice President
The Vice President assists the other officers in their projects, and coordinates with Sweepstakes as necessary. A good BAA VP candidate is someone who wants to improve Buggy, or Raceday, or the BAA in some way, and has some ideas for how to do it.
Ian McCullough
I love buggy! I’ve been to 29 consecutive Carnivals, without a miss. I’ve built a buggy (Jubatus). I’ve done essentially every job on a buggy team except drive and push. I have the time to dedicate, and I’d love to give back to the BAA. I’d like to give back more in the future too, but this VP vacancy feels like a good match for my present situation. I’m active on the Discord and vocal in the chute. I hope I can serve the buggy community.
Jacob Mohin
Excited to help the sport of buggy grow and evolve.
Lewis Rockwell
I am passionate about finding avenues to promote, strengthen, and improve the Sweepstakes tradition. As a student, I gained experience helping new/inexperienced teams build safe buggies, which is something I want to continue working on as an alumni. My skills, experience, and passion would add value to the BAA executive board.
Experience: SDC Head Mechanic (2024), pusher (Apex, SDC), built Lust, Paranoia, and Gluttony
Secretary
Listed in the BAA By-laws as the person to coordinate distribution of meeting minutes to general membership as well as handle and maintain the membership list in partnership with the Treasurer. The Secretary’s duties overlap with several other positions, providing support across the main functions of the BAA. The secretary’s diverse responsibilities provide a broad variety of opportunities.
Christian Lanuza
Hi, I’m Christian. I graduated in 2025 and served as the Chairman for PiKA Racing for the last three years but have been involved in Buggy since I walked onto campus in the fall of 2021. I am running for secretary to help the BAA and Buggy Community plan events, help things go smoothly, and to make Buggy a better sport. During my time at CMU I was the captain of varsity swim team, secretary for Pi Kappa Alpha for numerous semesters, and secretary for the Plaidvocates during my sophomore year. I have plenty of experience coordinating events, staying organized, and getting people to fill out Google Forms. I have a tremendous love for the sport and would like to continue supporting it as the BAA secretary.
Graphics Chair
The primary role of the Graphics Chair is to create the Raceday preview which can be done either with InDesign, Canva, or an equivalent software. This is a 15+ page digital document that BAA members get Tuesday or Wednesday before raceday. The Graphics Chair needs to work with multiple contributors to get a summary of the teams this year, an interview with an alumnus, a raceday prediction or two, and the schedule of events for Raceday. This time commitment is primarily in spring. The Graphics Chair’s secondary role is to put together merch for sale year round or for give away on raceday weekend.
Sam Connor
I have served as graphics chair for the BAA for the past two years. Using my expertise in design and merchandise production, I have been able to run multiple successful drop-shipping fundraiser campaigns, including for BAA tote bags and beanies, as well as redesign the timeless BAA Raceday shirts, introduce Schenley the Sheep, the newly-designed BAA mascot, and overhaul the graphics used for social media posts and Raceday events. If re-elected, I would continue to support the rest of the BAA team with graphics assistance and support BAA efforts by bringing merchandise to our community members via fundraisers, expanding the variety of items we can offer, and working to create graphics and support the needs of the social media and website team.
Information Services Manager
Previously known as the Webmaster, this position has been renamed to better represent its breadth of responsibility. The primary responsibilities of the ISM are leading the website subcommittee in ensuring that cmubuggy.org has correct and up to date information (Carnival events, rosters, Sweepstakes Bylaws, history data, etc.), maintaining the cmubuggy.org’s back-end code, managing the BAA’s information systems, and helping the BAA with technical tools as needed. The more interesting work revolves around updating the website to fit today’s standards and to be more useful to the Buggy community as a whole.
Rob Siemborski
It is my pleasure to have served as ISM (previously Webmaster) for the BAA over the last 2 years. If you don’t know me, as a student (98-03) I was both Chairman of W3VC, as well as involved in several buggy broadcasts with WRCT. As an alum, I’ve been continuously involved in various ways beyond my BAA officer role including the radio safety net, broadcast, and rolls reports.
During my previous term I completed the website redesign, resulting in an easier to navigate and more dynamic web site. I have also worked with students to directly integrate our data into the broadcast (most notably, via roster and leaderboard graphics). I’ve also reduced our hosting costs by about half through several different efforts.
In my next term, beyond the day to day operations and improvements and a general eye towards sustainability, there are two areas I want to focus on – The first is a long term solution for our ever-expanding video library to better serve our historians and video editors. The second is a more flexible approach to web site updates, as we found several limitations during this year’s extended and bonus raceday.
Finally – and to give you an idea of how I try to approach other issues that come to the BAA board – some thoughts on the parts of the BAA mission that resonate deeply with me. I strongly believe that the BAA should take a supporting/mentoring rather than leading role with current students in their effort to build and evolve sweepstakes – be that rule changes, the broadcast, or operational raceday issues. It is also very important to me that we both recognize and celebrate all forms of participation in sweepstakes, not only the visible competitive team members.
I hope to serve you for another term as ISM.
The Ballot
Thank you for your time and consideration. Please fill out your ballot here: https://cmubuggy.org/vote
