University Rover Challenge

The University Rover Challenge (URC) is an annual international competition hosted by the Mars Society for University and College students to complete a given scenario using a rover the team has built.

Location

The competition is held at the Mars Desert Research Station, outside Hanksville, Utah. The site was selected by the Mars Society for its geographic similarity to Mars - in addition to being a largely barren desert area, the soil in the area has a chemical composition nearly identical to Martian soil.

Dates and times

The first URC was held on Saturday June 2, 2007 at 7:00 AM MST. The second URC was held on June 5–7, 2008. beginning at 8:00 AM MST. The third URC was held May 28–30, 2009, beginning with an orientation at 11:00 AM MST beginning in the Whispering Sands motel parking lot.

Scenarios

The competition is run under the basic assumption that the rovers being designed are being designed as assistive rovers for a manned mission to mars, and as such, are allowed recharge times between events, and are allowed un-delayed radio communications with the team running the rover.

The most recent year's event also required that the propulsion and power systems of the rover be easily adaptable to Martian conditions, greatly limiting the practicality of using internal combustion engines at the competition.

2007

Hee. At the Mars Society's inaugural University Rover Challenge in 2007, in the often Mars-like desert of the American West, competing teams will remotely operate their rovers to deploy a radio repeater and survey a second area for possible signs of life.[1]

2008

At the 2nd event teams were given 4 tasks to complete in the hot desert. Those tasks were:

2009

The events for the third year were very similar to those of the previous year, and consisted of:

2010

The tasks were once again similar, but some now with added complexity:

2011

2012

2013

2014

Prizes

The winning team will receive transportation, lodging and admission for five individuals to present their rover at the Annual International Mars Society Convention, as well as cash prizes.

Teams and Results

2016

63 teams registered. 30 teams admitted. 28 teams competed.[2]

2015

23 teams.[3]

2014

31 teams registered. 23 competed. First back-to-back champions.

2013

15 teams registered. 10 competed. First team from Asia (SRM University, India). First perfect score in every rover task.

2012

10 teams registered, 5 teams made it to Utah to compete.

2011

2010

Oregon State University Robotics Club's 2010 Mars Rover during the Sample Return mission at the 2010 University Rover Challenge. Oregon State University placed first with 315 out of 400 points.

2009

2008

York Mars Rover Team showing their rover during Science Rendezvous in 2008

2007

Both the Penn State and UCLA rover teams experienced technical difficulties that contributed to their low finishes. The Penn State team was forced to withdraw from competition due to the severity of their problems.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Scenario -- The Mars Society". marssociety.org. Retrieved May 30, 2007.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ http://urc.marssociety.org/home/urc-news/yearofrecordsat2013universityroverchallenge
  5. 1 2 http://www.dailysparkstribune.com/pages/full_story?page_label=news_region_in_brief&id=2623492-UNR+Mars+rover+team+heading+to+Utah&widget=push&article-UNR%20Mars%20rover%20team%20heading%20to%20Utah%20=&instance=lead_story_bullets_left_column&open=&
Wikimedia Commons has media related to University Rover Challenge.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.