The Centre of Excellence for Advanced Robotics @ Queen Mary (ARQ) is delighted to announce the successful launch of the new Robot Café — a relaxed, informal space where students can explore robotics and related topics in a hands-on and engaging way.

Open to all Queen Mary Robotics students as well as members of the Electronics Society, the Robot Café provides an opportunity to deepen technical knowledge, experiment with tools and technologies, and connect with like-minded peers in a welcoming environment.

A Strong Start: OpenCV Session

We kicked off the series last Wednesday 11th Februrary with an interactive session on OpenCV (Open Computer Vision). The event was very well attended, with approximately 30 students joining in person and 35 online participants.

The session introduced students to the fundamentals of computer vision and practical implementation in Python. It began with guidance on installing a Python Integrated Development Environment using PyCharm, ensuring everyone was ready to code.

From there, the focus shifted to real-time image processing. Students learned how to:

• Capture and process live camera streams
• Convert images to grey scale
• Flip and manipulate video streams
• Real-time edge detection
• Apply masking techniques
• Perform face tracking using Google's MediaPipe

Participants were encouraged to run the demonstrated Python programs on their own laptops, creating a highly interactive and practical learning experience. Feedback was extremely positive, with students appreciating the balance between theory and hands-on experimentation.

What’s Next?

The Robot Café will continue every Wednesday from 3pm to 6pm in Room 0.14, IQ East Court, running until the end of the semester. All sessions are delivered in a hybrid format (in-person and online); recordings and materials will be made available afterwards.

This semester’s programme includes:

• 18 Feb – Embedded Systems & Arduino Programming
• 25 Feb – CAD and 3D Printing
• 04 March – Deep Learning
• 11 March – Robot Kinematics / ROS
• 18 March – LTspice for Electronic Circuit Simulation / LiDAR & Point Cloud Tutorial (Matlab)
• 25 March – MuJoCo Simulation
• 01 April – Optics-Based Force Sensors
• 08 April – Claude Programming

Each session is led by ARQ staff members and invited contributors, ensuring a diverse range of expertise and perspectives across robotics, AI, embedded systems, simulation, sensing, and design.

The Robot Café reflects ARQ’s commitment to fostering a vibrant robotics community at Queen Mary — one that blends academic excellence with creativity, collaboration, and curiosity.

We look forward to welcoming many more students in the coming weeks!