|
The University of Alabama
NASA RMC 2017 Awards Received: 2017 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS Overall: Joe Kosmo Award for Excellence Caterpillar Award for Full Autonomy and Efficient Use of Communications Award 1st in On-site Mining Award 1st in Slide Presentation and Demonstration Award 1st in Outreach 2nd in System's Engineering 3rd in Social Media Award |
The 2017 Cycle Robot
Lab Demos
Bill Battle and UAPD
2017 NASA RMC Robot
Base
|
This year, we again decided to challenge ourselves by creating a modular system. A modular robot allows for various modules to be attatched to a single base, though for RMC we will only utilize an excavation module. This base provides the stability for the robot. We mitigated the need for a chassis by creating a strong steel frame with plenty of ground clearance to avoid obstacles. We then decreased weight by cutting out patterns in the frame and utilizing 3D printed parts. Our in-house custom wheels glide effortlessly over sand or BP-1.
|
|
Payload
|
|
The 2017 RMC Payload Module is a dual conveyor belt system mounted to an inner frame, which pivots inside of a static outer frame. The first conveyor consists of a digger head statically mounted to the inner frame. Twenty-four custom buckets attach to the belt, and are driven by dual BAG motors. The second conveyor is the offloading belt which offloads the regolith from the bottom of the robot's bin into the storage bin at the end of the pit. While the dual belt design is similar to our 2016 robot, the frame and digging head actuation have been redesigned to improve performance while digging BP-1. The 2017 Payload Module uses two linear actuators to allow for precision in the digging zone and statically mounted conveyors enable optimum payload storage.
|
Electronics
|
The 2017 RMC Electronics system is comprised of 2 electronics enclosures. The first one is attached to the Base Module. This box is responsible for our power system, networking, Base Module control, and interfacing to the payload and autonomy systems. The second box is mounted to the Payload Module. It houses all of the motor controllers and sensor interfaces of the payload. There is a single multi-conductor cable for all data communication and a single power cable to interface the two boxes together. A modular e-stop also enables us to place it in the safest and most easily accessible location on the robot.
|
|
Operational Videos
Engineers in the WildWho says Engineers can't have fun??? Check in periodically to see team members of the Alabama Astrobotics Team at various events. From team movie nights to Alabama Football games to birthdays and more, the dedicated members of the Alabama Astrobotics team know how to have a good time!
|
|
|
|
Team MeetingsAt our team meetings we discuss the current design for this years NASA Robotic Mining Competition rover. Our team is divided up into three major subsystems, the Electrical team, the Mechanical team, and the Software team. The Electrical team is in charge of designing the systems electronics system and integrating the electrical components into the system. The Mechanical team is in charge of designing and building the rover that will compete in this year's competition. The Software team is in charge of writing all the necessary code to operate the robot in the competition arena.
|
2017 Sponsors
