Details

Authors: Tung Nguyen, Scarlett Hawk IIT
Artifacts: Code

LUNABOTICS is an Artemis Student Challenge to educate college students on NASA Systems Engineering. Participating teams design and build a prototype robot for long-term human presence on Mars. During the simulation, robots must overcome regolith simulants, resources, weight, size, and remote/autonomous operations.

IIT team at Kenedy Space Center.

I was part of Illinois Tech’s automation team. We worked closely with fellow mechanical and electrical engineers to build a self-maneuvered system for the robot.

Our main achievements:

  • Created a neural obstacle detection system using Kinect’s depth sensors, LibFreenect, and OpenCV
  • Integrated LIDAR and Adafruit Capacitive touch sensors to develop a fully automated robot maneuvering system
  • Designed manual control system fall-back
  • Successfully ran self-driving test drives on real mining evironment.

Proof of life for mining robot

Personal Note: My desire to participate in this competition stemmed from watching Vietnam Robocon, a robot contest for college students across the country, during my childhood. Vietnam’s tremendous effort in promoting STEM competitions/programs on national television during the 2000s incited my passion for STEMs. I hope Vietnamese govenment and education organizations can continue their supports for these programs in the future.

Vietnam Robocon team claimed champion in Asia-Pacific Robot Contest in 2004.
The first of our 6 champion titles during the competion's 20 years history.