Engineering Portfolio
MARS ROVER TEAM
Oregon State Robotics Club
After completing my first internship at Genentech I returned to school looking for new opportunities to develop myself as an engineer. I decided to join the Mars Rover Team. The Mars Rover Team is a multidisciplinary group of dedicated engineers, scientists, and robotic enthusiasts committed to designing, building, and operating a small-scale Mars Rover to compete in the University Rover Challenge (URC). URC is the world's premier college robotics competition sponsored by Protocase and Microsoft. The competition is held annually in the desert of southern Utah, where teams face off in a series of rigorous missions including:
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Science Mission: To conduct in-situ analysis, including life-detection testing of samples.
Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mission: Staged mission including the pickup and delivery of objects in the field as well as providing support to astronauts.
Equipment Servicing Mission: A series of dexterous operations on a mock-up equipment system.
Autonomous Traversal Mission: Staged mission of autonomous traversal across easy and moderately difficult terrain while passing through gates at key locations.
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The URC team at Oregon State consists of four main subteams, Mechanical, Electrical, Science, and Software. I functioned as a mechanical design engineer in support of the science sub-team. Our mission was to conduct in-situ analysis, including life-detection testing of samples to determine which would be best to cache for further analysis given a limited cache volume. Within the science sub-team, I specifically was tasked with designing a system to integrate the various sensors and allow for the retrieval of soil. To complete the in-situ analysis and life-detection of samples our team decided to use four main instruments.
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PH Probe: Measures pH value of soil from 0 to 14 pH.
Soil Probe: Measures soil salinity, moisture, and temperature, which are key components to soil health and potential for life.
Micro-scope: Views and images samples, allowing for identification of possible extant or extinct biological material.
Spectrometer: Measures reflectance within the visible light to near-infrared spectrum used to detect the chemical composition of rocks and soil.
Science Mechanism Design
While generating concept designs for the science mechanism our team decided to move away from the previous year's soil recovery system. Which used a conventional auger system, instead we decided to implement a vacuum mechanism. The cyclone for vacuum generation as well as the liquid soil testing equipment was located on the main chassis. While the soil probing unit was fixed to a linear actuator. Additionally, a soil disrupter was used to agitate the soil.
SCIENCE MECHANISM INTEGRATION
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Contributions:
Design suggestions and review of mechanical systems on the rover.
Provided 3D printing services to support team using at home printer.
Designed and manufactured science mechanisms to support various instruments and aid in soil recovery.
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URC 2020
System Acceptance Review
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Below is our team's URC 2020 System Acceptance Review (SAR). This is an overview of the rover and is scored by a committee to determine which teams advance to the final competition in Utah. As a team, we scored an 89 out of 100 and qualified for competition. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, the competition was canceled.