By Suraksha P | Chennai Published: 18th May 2015 06:00 AM Last Updated: 15th May 2015 11:15 PM

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Amrita Univ Team at Mars Rover Contest

The Rover Boyz team from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri campus (110 km north of

Thiruvananthapuram), is one among the five finalist teams from India at the University Rover Challenge,

Mars Desert Research Station, Hanksville, Utah, United States, that will be held in the last week of May. The

other teams selected from India are Hindustan Mars Rover, Hindustan University; IITB Mars Rover Team,

IIT-Bombay; KMC Robophysicists, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi; and Rudra-SRM Mars Rover, SRM

University, Chennai.

The challenge is to design and build the next generation of Mars Rover that will one day work alongside

human explorers in the field. The winners will receive cash prizes and a trip to the annual International Mars

Society Convention to present their winning idea.

The 17-member team from Amrita comprising Aswath S (team lead), Arjun B Krishnan, Hariprasad CM,

Unnikrishnan VJ, Deepu Prasad Mathew, Maya M, Chinmaya Krishna Tilak, Ragesh Ramachandran, Abin

Simon, Sreekuttan T, Kalathil Praveen, Basil Kailash Dutt, Abhay Sengar, Sree Krishnan, Arun Murali, Amal

Suresh and Arjun Biju cleared the Critical Design Review of the competition to be shortlisted among 22

finalist teams across the world. The competition that began in December last year saw participation from 44

teams across eight countries.

“Ours is the only team that built a six-wheeled spider-like rover. The other four teams (from India) have

borrowed from the Curiosity model that is eight-wheeled. We have advanced navigational capabilities. The

main challenge is to transport the rover to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah which is four hours

away from the nearest airport,” says Aswath.

Mars Rover built by students of Amrita University Rover Boyz Team from Amrita School of Engineering

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The team has received Rs 6.2 lakh funds from their college, credit towards custom parts manufactured by

Protocase Incorporated, Canada, and ABB Ltd, Switzerland.

The final involves five tasks, presentation, terrain traversing, sample return, equipment servicing and

astronaut assistance, explains Aswath. “In the first task, we describe our rover design and functionality and

in the second, the rover will need to traverse sandy, stony, and rocky fields, to test its route-finding ability.

In the sample return task, we are required to collect a small sample and look for signs of extremophiles

(organisms that thrive in extreme environments under high pressure and temperature). In the fourth task,

the rover will have to read and follow tasks printed on a panel that include connecting pipes into fittings and

reading pressure gauges. In the final task, teams are required to collect objects left in the field near given

GPS coordinates,” he says.

suraksha@newindianexpress.com