Mars Rover - URC
Niket Ghelani, Kirill Martusevich, Andrew Poe, John Bohanon, Christopher Zarlenga (PM), Tiziano Bernard (PM)
Faculty Advisor: Brian D. Kaplinger, Ph.D & Ronnal P. Reichard, Ph.D. Dept of MAE, Florida Institute of Technology
Design Criteria The Rover’s key design components Passive Differential The differential allows for the top plate
that will allow it to overcome the tasks in the competition are of the rover to remain level across any rough terrain it may
the suspension, differential, and motors. The suspension encounter, while assisting the suspension in navigating rough
was designed to overcome a 60 cm tall flat vertical face terrain. This component will be essential for the astronaut assistant
without tipping or falling back on itself. The suspension was task, tool retrieval, and the science task. The differential is also
run through a SolidWorks simulation and numerous mounted on the rover’s undercarriage to optimize the space
iterations to help in testing the suspension’s limitations. This available on the main body plate for the robotic arm, controls
will be especially useful in the competition’s terrain traversal hardware, and the science tools needed for the competition.
task, and allow us to overcome numerous obstacles.
Motors The motors were selected to
provide enough torque to lift the rover over a
60deg slope and still have enough RPM to
allow the rover to travel the maximum
distance the competition could have given
the worst case scenario of any given task.
• Peak Torque 89 In-Lbs
• Shaft Output Speed 194 RPM
• Voltage 24 DC Volts
• Current 3.5 A
Composite Structure The core of the Rover’s
composite suspension is composed of structural PVC foam.
The foam was then glued together and received a layer of University Rover Challenge The
unidirectional carbon fiber on the top and bottom surfaces. Mars Society created the University Rover
Once cured, the whole assembly was put inside a composite Challenge (URC), which challenges
sleeve and coated in epoxy. universities in designing and building
revolutionary rover systems capable of
completing various tasks:
1. Astronaut Assistance
2. Equipment Servicing
3. Terrain Traversal
4. Sample Analysis
These tasks are fundamental for any rover
Sponsors that would operate in close contact with
astronauts on Mars. This is the first year that
Florida Tech submitted a proposal to
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
We Engineer the Future™
participate at this international competition.
