A team of over 30 students from the University of Utah took home the prestigious grand prize from the NASA Lunobotics competition thanks to their robot. Their design won multiple awards and cemented many of the students’ love of STEM, space and collaboration.
The team was comprised of students from the Utah Students Robotics club. To compete, the team had to apply for the competition. Out of 70 universities, the team was selected to be one of the 30 official competitors based on their project management plan. The competition was held at the University of Central Florida May 15-17.
Over the course of a year, the students prepared for the competition. Early on in the process, the students received a rubric and competition layout for what to expect. The teams then began working on the systems engineering paper, presentation demonstration and, most importantly, the robot itself.
“You are building a robot to compete in a simulated lunar environment,” explained Jeffrey Hansen, a University of Utah chemical and computer engineering student. “The goal is to navigate through an obstacle zone and then do digging and dumping to build a berm.”
Judges look at numerous factors, including the size of the berm compared to the size and energy usage and the different amounts of autonomous operations. Those areas all contributed to the four main areas of scoring: the systems engineering paper, the outreach paper, the presentation demonstration and the construction competition. After competing at Florida, the top 10 teams are chosen to go to the Kennedy Space Center and compete for the grand prize.
The Utah-based team split into three different subteams, including mechanical, electrical and software teams. Supporting teams also included an admin and systems team. Frequent meetings, collaborations and trial and error were a must for the students. Hansen called their work an “evolutionary design style.”
“We had a systems engineering approach. We did it a bit differently than we had done in the past,” Hansen elaborated. “We decided to start with building a version of the robot that met the basic competition requirements. … Once we had that, we went through different versions to improve upon that design.”
Working with 30 students was no small feat. With so many minds hard at work, it was sometimes difficult to find the direction the team wanted to take. Additionally, the challenge was extremely open-ended. As long as the robot was under the specified maximum weight and dimensions, the robot could do anything. Digging systems, electronics, batteries and microcontrollers could all be chosen by the students.
Another key piece of the journey was the collaboration with the U. The students worked with the administration to build a lunar simulation to test the robot. The chance to practice before the competition was everything for the team.
“We didn’t have (the simulation) done until close to the end of the year, but even that little bit of time helped,” Hansen said. “It was quite a big process to get that approved.”
When they brought their robot to the competition, the team knew they had something special. After taking home the first place in presentation and demonstration, first place in STEM engagement and outreach, second place in construction, special recognition for exceptional use of systems engineering tools and various judges’ awards, the team thought they may have a chance to compete in the top 10.
Their suspicions were correct. The team ecstatically welcomed the invitation to present their robot at the finals. After an excellent demonstration, the team was awarded the Artemis Award, or grand prize.
“The team just erupted in energy when we found out we won. It felt like we had accomplished everything we went there to do,” Hansen said. “It was very emotional. It was so much work across a lot of time with so many people. It felt incredible to have all that work come together and walk on stage knowing we had done it.”
The experience has helped to shape the students’ futures.
“It’s been absolutely incredible for getting hands-on experience. … There are real-world applications of participating in this team that I would’ve never experienced in any of my classes,” Hansen said.
To supplement their work, the students also traveled around to numerous K-12 schools around Utah. Their presentations aimed to inspire the future generation of students to try new things, specifically in the STEM field.
“It’s how we keep improving the world. It’s how we’ve gotten to where we are today,” Hansen said. “It’s the most important thing out there.”