Autonomous Rover: the NASA Centennial Challenge
In 2015, the MIT Robotics Team is competing in NASA's Centennial Challenge for a grand prize of $1.5 million. Teams must build a rover capable of autonomously searching a large area and locating and retrieving specific samples.
I was the mechanical lead for this project, leading a team of 6 mech-e undergrads. Currently we are in the design and manufacturing stage. Here are some preliminary CADs and designs.
The current rover design is fitted with serve capability; that is, each wheel can turn independently. I designed a passive averaging design that allows each wheel to have a flexible height while maintaining x-y position.
Version 1 of the CAD.
