Shuttle Tracker 2.0 to begin rollout

At a recent Senate meeting, Web Technologies Group Chairperson Gabriel Jacoby-Cooper ’24 announced that a completely revamped Shuttle Tracker 2.0 will begin to hand out tracking devices to shuttles. The update should provide significantly more accurate location data for each shuttle.

Students have developed Shuttle Tracker 2.0 as an RCOS project for several semesters. In April 2023, they released a closed beta which was tested throughout the Summer 2023 semester. Jacoby-Cooper stated during the meeting that they are waiting for Apple and Google to approve the update for their respective app stores. A few days after the Senate meeting, Jacoby-Cooper stated he handed off the first four tracking nodes to administration in a Discord announcement. In a September 18 communication with The Polytechnic, Jacoby-Cooper stated that Apple had approved the app update while the Android update has been slightly delayed until the fixing of last-minute issues. Currently, there is no specific date for when Shuttle Tracker 2.0 will be fully released.

Later in the meeting, Executive Board Liaison Colette Minor ’26 mentioned that the E-Board approved a subsidy request by RPI TV for new graphics equipment needed to fulfill standards set by ESPN. Around four years ago, RPI Athletics signed a contract with ESPN+ to exclusively stream hockey games through their platform, instead of YouTube. The contract illustrated guidelines on how certain graphics were to be shown and RPI TV did not have the necessary equipment.

Graduate President Alexander Lutsevich took issue with the Rensselaer Union having to subsidize the procurement of the equipment even though RPI Athletics signed the contract. Shortly thereafter, Lutsevich sought more clarification stating, “RPI Athletics…signed a contract with ESPN, and then to legally uphold the contract they were now required to purchase the equipment, which the institution, [with] a $1 billion endowment, turned to students for help because [RPI] are so poor.” In response to Lutsevich, Minor responded in the affirmative. More senators weighed in on the issue, but the Senate eventually moved on to other topics.

This Senate meeting was held on September 11. The Senate meets every Monday at 8 pm in the Shelnutt Gallery.