Feb 28 2011
WVU Lunabotics team, a team of 15 students from the West Virginia University (WVU) are working on developing a robotic rover capable of picking and dumping no less than 10 kg of ‘lunar simulant’.
The robot is being developed for a NASA contest, scheduled to be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida between May 23 and 28, 2011.
The robotic rover could also move along a course with obstacles to perform the task. Jen Davis, Member of the Team, has stated that the robot of the previous year’s winning team shifted 21.6 kg of lunar simulant and the WVU Lunabotics team’s robot should dump 30 to 40 kg of simulant.
The design of the robotic rover was finalized during the initial months of the semester. The team has started developing the robot. Davis has mentioned that they will limit their robot’s size and the entire design must facilitate its deployment on the moon. She added that the team members work for 10 hours a week on their project after their class hours.
According to Ben Knabenshue, Leader of the WVU Lunabotics Team, the team needs to increase their work time during the development phase and their work is in the preliminary stage.
Source: http://www.wvu.edu