NASA RMC
What is the RMC (Robotic Mining Competition)?
The NASA RMC is a design challenge for college teams based off of the current NASA mission of traveling to, and potentially inhabiting, Mars. Water is one of the most important factors for sustaining life, and it is theorized that water can be found in the form of icy gravel beneath the surface of Mars. The purpose of the RMC is for teams of college students to design and manufacture an autonomous Mars mining robot that is able to extract the aforementioned icy gravel.
Mechanical Sub-Team
This sub-team works on the design and manufacture of the robot and focuses on four main systems. If you're interested in volunteering for the team:
Locomotion
The locomotion system is what allows the robot to traverse the competition arena. Our team currently uses a tank treads design; however, there are other options that can be used as well. For many competition teams, wheels and treads are the most popular locomotion systems.
Mining
The primary goal of the NASA Robotic Mining Competition is to mine as much gravel as possible, so the mining system is one of the most important and complex systems on the robot. There are many different mining systems that are used by teams in the competition. This year, our team is using a bucket elevator system for mining.
Dumping
In addition to mining the material, the team is required to dump all collected material in a bin placed in the mining arena. In order to do this successfully, often times a separate dumping mechanism is required. Two of the most commonly used dumping systems are the pivoted dump body and the conveyor belt dumping system. This year, the team is using a pivoted dump body for the dumping system.
Controls
Controls is how the whole robot functions. It includes the analysis and use of sensors, motors, motor controllers, and batteries. By connecting these different parts together through the use of a microcontroller, the robot can be remotely controlled by a teleoperations system.
Autonomy Sub-Team
The autonomy sub-team is responsible for having the robot navigate autonomously through the competition arena. If you're interested in volunteering for the team
How does it work?
The team creates a path planning intelligence using two systems: a Pozyx, which provides orientation data based off of the starting location, and a lidar, which provides accurate obstacle data points with respect to the robot. When this data is given to the D* algorithm in Simulink, the result is a continuously updated path for the robot to travel so that it can avoid boulders and craters while crossing the obstacle field.