Space Mining Robot Prototype for NASA Robotic Mining Competition Utilizing Systems Engineering Principles

Abstract

The 2017 National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Robotic Mining Competition (RMC) is an outstanding opportunity for engineering students to implement all the knowledge and experience that they gained in the undergraduate years, in building a robot that will provide an intellectual insight to NASA, to develop innovative robotic excavation concepts. For this competition, multiple universities from all over the U.S. will create teams of students and faculty members to design and build a mining robot that can traverse, mine, excavate at least 10 kg of regolith, then deposit it in a bin in the challenging simulated Martian terrain. Our team's goal is to improve on our current design and overcome DustyTRON 2.0's limitations by analyzing them and implementing new engineering solutions. The process to improve this system will enable our team members to learn mechanical, electrical, and software engineering. DustyTRON 3.0 is divided into three subteams, namely, Mechanical, Circuitry, Software sub-teams. The mechanical team focused on solving the mechanical structure, robot mobility, stability, and weight distribution. The circuitry team focused on the electrical components such as batteries, wiring, and motors. The Software team focused on programming the NVidia TK1, Arduino controller, and camera integration. This paper will outline the detailed work following systems engineering principles to complete this project, from research, to design process and robot building compete at the Kennedy Space Center. Only 54 teams were invited to participate from all over the US and DustyTRON team represented the state of Texas and placed the 29th and awarded the "Innovative Design" award.