A team from the Indian Institute of Science is working towards participating in the 2024 edition of the University Rover Challenge.
The University Rover Challenge (URC) is the world’s premier robotics competition for college students. Held annually in the Mars Desert Research Station, outside Hanksville, Utah in the United States, URC challenges student teams to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will one day work alongside astronauts exploring the Red Planet.
Meet the team members
The team, named Team Vicharaka, comprises undergraduate students of the B.Tech Math and Computing programme.
Mechanical: Sidak Singh Grewal, Sathvik Manthri, Dibyashanu Pati, Pranav Kalsi, Fale Sanyat Vinod
Life-Detection: Dhruv Gupta, Swaraj Nandi, Aman Sahoo, Raisa Sanaa, Anurag Majumdar
Electronics: Kanishk, Ashwin Kochuvila, Nitin Vetcha
Communications: Varivashya Poladi, Jeet Nikhil Vora
Software Development: Sirjan Hansda, Pratyush Kant, S Sharath
Autonomous Navigation: Sahil Chaudhary, Armaan Khetarpaul (Path Planning), Aditya Gupta, Suhas Vundavilli (Sensor and Sensor Fusion), Balaji R, Shankaradithyaa Venkateswaran (SLAM)
Robotic Arm: Indrayudh Das, Pratham Gupta, Kalpesh Bhatnagar, Pritesh
Project Management: Shankaradithyaa Venkateswaran, Suhas Vundavilli, Aditya Gupta, Nitin Vetcha
They will work towards developing three prototypes before the field competition in the United States between May 31 and June 3.
Budget Estimation
The BOMB Cost for the project is $22,000 USD (roughly Rs 18.3 lakh), which shall include components of the rover, rover modules, communication equipment and power sources. An additional cap of Rs 7 lakh is expected for Base Station Equipment and Command Control Equipment. This might be subject to revision.