Spring Break
OSU robotics team snatches first place
Robotics team built Rover to compete in simulated Mars mission against seven teams
Robert Ingle
Issue date: 7/9/08 Section: News
Competing for the first time at the 2008 University Rover Challenge, the Oregon State University Robotics Club surpassed expectations and was crowned champion in the event held June 5-7 at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
The annual rover challenge, hosted by the Mars Society, involves students designing their own Mars Rover to complete geology, soil characterization, emergency navigation, and construction tasks.
These tasks range from attaching bolts on a control panel to navigating through desert terrain to find a "distressed astronaut" from up to 1.5 kilometers away, all while being remote controlled via visual information passed from an onboard camera.
Ben Goska, a junior in electrical and computer engineering and driver for the Oregon State team, found that driving the rover was much more tedious then playing a video game, despite using a Sony Playstation 2 controller to operate the vehicle.
"When driving, I would sit down in a little tent where I couldn't see anything outside, and all that was in front of me were two screens, the TV sending video signals from the rover's camera and the laptop which gave all the data," Goska said.
"Driving [the rover] was one of the most stressful things I've done, because I knew that if I screwed up, everyone was watching, and I was driving around a project that everyone had been working on for months."
The OSU team had several design aspects that drove their robot to the front of the pack, including the use of a gasoline-powered hydraulic engine rather then the normal battery-and-electric-motor approach. Team members recognize this aspect of the rover as being extremely beneficial as it enabled them to move rapidly over the rough desert terrain.
Another design feature that separated the OSU rover from the competition of seven other teams was that it did not have moving parts in its main control system. Instead of using a delicate laptop as the main control like many of the other teams, the OSU team, exclusively comprising electrical and computer engineering students, designed and implemented their own system.
The annual rover challenge, hosted by the Mars Society, involves students designing their own Mars Rover to complete geology, soil characterization, emergency navigation, and construction tasks.
These tasks range from attaching bolts on a control panel to navigating through desert terrain to find a "distressed astronaut" from up to 1.5 kilometers away, all while being remote controlled via visual information passed from an onboard camera.
Ben Goska, a junior in electrical and computer engineering and driver for the Oregon State team, found that driving the rover was much more tedious then playing a video game, despite using a Sony Playstation 2 controller to operate the vehicle.
"When driving, I would sit down in a little tent where I couldn't see anything outside, and all that was in front of me were two screens, the TV sending video signals from the rover's camera and the laptop which gave all the data," Goska said.
"Driving [the rover] was one of the most stressful things I've done, because I knew that if I screwed up, everyone was watching, and I was driving around a project that everyone had been working on for months."
The OSU team had several design aspects that drove their robot to the front of the pack, including the use of a gasoline-powered hydraulic engine rather then the normal battery-and-electric-motor approach. Team members recognize this aspect of the rover as being extremely beneficial as it enabled them to move rapidly over the rough desert terrain.
Another design feature that separated the OSU rover from the competition of seven other teams was that it did not have moving parts in its main control system. Instead of using a delicate laptop as the main control like many of the other teams, the OSU team, exclusively comprising electrical and computer engineering students, designed and implemented their own system.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.