Project title: Intelligent Mars Rover Development.

Team Structure:

Team Leader: Ashraful Alam, EECE-13

Vice Leaders:

1. Technical vice leader: Arif Mahmud, CSE-15

2. Managing vice leader: Farhan Hasan, NSE-01

3. Financial vice deader: Mirza, EWCE-01

Other members:

1. MD. Shabbir Hossain, EECE-13

2. Mahfujul Islam Akash, CSE-14

3. Nazmul Hasan, AE

4. Shawon, AE

5. Muaz, CSE-14

6. Maliha Maliat, EECE-12

7. Rubaiya Kabir Pranti, EECE-13

Executive summary:

Worldwide Rover challenge Robotics competition “University Rover Challenge” takes place every year

at Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah, USA. It is considered as a well-known

and very respective competition all over the world. Universities from different countries participate in

this competition to show their excellence on the spatial field and bring new ideas to solve many

problems that a rover encounters during its space travel on other planets. These new ideas to

approach different problems are observed by scientists from NASA, RKA, ESA etc. so that they can be

implemented on future rovers. MIST has been participating in the competition every year and has

brought great achievements over the years. This year department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

(NSE) of Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is developing its expertise in cutting edge

world standard rover technology by engineering an intelligent rover that is capable of solving all the

tasks proposed by URC organization using the latest image processing technology that will help the

rover decide itself on the field and execute its operation or suggest remote controllers according to context. This rover should be capable of doing-

Science Cache Task:

The goal is to collect samples at sites selected in the field, perform basic science

evaluation of these samples with onboard instrumentation, and store at least one sample

in a cache for further scientific analysis. A single or multiple sites can be sampled. Sites

shall be analyzed for their likelihood to support microbial life using the geologica l

context such as evidence of water flow, minerals present and soil structure.

Astronaut Assistance:

Rover shall be required to collect multiple objects left in the field and deliver/dep loy them to multiple locations throughout the field. All items to be delivered will need to

be picked up in the field by the rover. The location and description of equipment will be given in GPS coordinates to within 3m.

Equipment Servicing Task:

Rovers shall be required to perform several dexterous operations on a mock-up equipment system.

The rover shall have to travel up to 0.25km across relatively flat terrain (minimal slope) to reach the equipment. The equipment servicing task will involve performing

maintenance on a generator which may include the following sub-tasks:

Connect a carabiner to a wagon containing a fuel can and use it to tow the

wagon to the generator. The wagon will have a U-hook at least 1” in diameter and no more than 0.25” thick, to which the carabiner can be connected. Teams

should provide the tow rope and carabiner.

Flip open a cap on the fuel tank.

Pour the fuel (ethanol simulated by dyed water or simulated magnes ium

powder) into the tank. Tank opening will be no higher than 0.5m from the ground. Filled fuel can will weigh less than 2.5 kg.

Unscrew a regulator from a simulated empty O2 tank and screw onto a “full”

tank. Attaching screw fitting will be a DIN style collar approximately 1” in diameter attached to a hose.

Start generator by pushing a button or flipping a switch

Verify operation by reading a message on a LCD display

Terrain Traversing Task:

Rover shall be required to traverse a variety of difficult terrains as part of an engineer ing field test of the ruggedness and route-finding ability of the rovers. Terrain may include

soft sandy areas, rough stony areas, rock and boulder fields, vertical drops potentially in excess of 0.5m, and steep slopes in excess of 60°. There is no limit placed on the

slopes or size of drops or boulders that may be encountered. Unlike the other tasks, this task poses a significant hazard to the rovers, and teams may want to weigh the risk vs. reward before attempting some of the obstacles, especially early in the competition.

The current project aims to showcase the rover at upcoming University Rover Challenge 2016 and win the first position.

Objectives:

1. Designing an energy efficient and intelligent rover

2. Engineering a rover according to design

3. Making rover capable of performing “Science Cache Task”

4. Making rover capable of doing “Astronaut Assistance”

5. Making rover capable of executing “Equipment Servicing Task”

6. Making rover capable of accomplishing “Terrain Traversing Task”

7. Field testing the rover

8. Presenting the rover in upcoming University Rover Challenge 2016

Expected outcome:

The existing rover projects are to be optimized by using intelligent approach under this project. The

results are to be utilized by Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO)

and other space research centers of different countries for their future space exploration programs.

Technical Details:

Wheel tire:

1. Type: Mud terrain tire (customized)

Mobility System:

1. Type: Regular rover mobility system (Customized)

Motors:

1. Gear motor

2. Cylinder motor / Actuator

Main body:

1. Shape: Cuboid

2. Approximate Dimension: 36 inch x 22 inch x 10 inch

Figure: Computer generated 3D structure of Innotus rover.

Robotic Arm:

1. Specification: Two actuators and four fingers gripper

Sensors:

2. PH meter

3. Humidity sensor

4. Motion sensor

5. Gravity sensor

6. Compass sensor

7. GPS sensor

8. Speedometer

9. Proximity sensor

10. Organic substance sensor

Networking and communication:

1. Devices:

1. Wi-Fi adapter

2. Router

3. Satel Radio Modem

4. FPV Camera 1080p

Circuit requirements:

1. Raspberry pi

2. Arduino board

3. ARM microcontroller

Software:

1. Platform: Raspberry Pi

2. OS: Linux

3. Language: C and Python

Approach:

This project has been divided into three interdependent phases where phase 1 includes

all the necessary research associated with rover, phase 2 concentrates on developing the

rover and phase 3 for the testing and fixing encountered problems. Tasks under these phases are distributed in the following manner:

Phase Focus Task Completion

date Status

Phase 1

1. Wheel Tire

1. Tire list collection 02-12-15 Complete 2. Tire research and selection 04-12-15 Complete

3. Technical detail submission 07-12-15 Complete

4. Discussion and finalities 08-12-15 Complete

2. Mobility System

1. Mobility system list collection

03-12-15 Complete

2. Research and selection 05-12-15 Complete 3. Discussion and planning 06-12-15 Complete

4. Technical detail submission 10-12-15 Complete

3. Motors

1. Motor list collection 04-12-15 Complete

2. Research and selection 08-12-15 Complete 3. Wheel-motor integration

planning 10-12-15 Complete

4. Discussion 11-12-15 Complete 5. Technical detail submission 14-12-15 Complete

4. Mobility system-body integration

1. Research (including balance between two wheel carriers and body)

11-12-15 Complete

2. Technical detail submission 13-12-15 Complete

3. Discussion and finalities 14-12-15 Complete

5. Main body

1. Research of internal circuits, devices and associated body parts

15-12-15 Complete

2. Proper planning according to research and technical detail submission

18-12-15 Complete

3. Discussion and finalities 19-12-15 Complete

6. Robotic Arm

1. Robotic hand’s list collection

17-12-15 Complete

2. Research and selection 19-12-15 Complete

3. Robotic hand-body integration

21-12-15 Complete

4. Discussion and planning 22-12-15 Complete

5. Technical detail submission 24-12-15 Complete

7. Sensors

1. Research of tasks associated with sensors

26-12-15 Complete

2. Collection of list of required sensors

28-12-15 Complete

3. Discussion and planning 29-12-15 Complete

4. Technical detail submission 01-01-16 Complete

8. Networking and communication

1. Gathering requirements 03-01-16 Complete 2. Research on possible

devices and selection 08-01-16 Complete

3. Discussion and planning 10-01-16 Complete 4. Technical detail submission 12-01-16 Complete

Phase 2

9. Internal Circuit planning

1. Division of different independent units

2. Understanding and planning these units’ target

3. Research of integration and intercommunication among these units

4. Production of work plan (if required for project, including team division)

5. Work plan submission

10. Circuit Design

1. Robotic Arm 2. Wheel control

3. Networking 4. Sensors

11. Software

1. OS research 2. Software requirement

collection

3. Integration with devices and sensors

4. Project planning

5. Development of algorithms

6. Software development 7. Bug fixing and testing

8. Implementing software

Phase 3 12. Field Testing

1. Science Cache Task

2. Astronaut Assistance 3. Equipment Servicing Task

4. Terrain Traversing Task

5. Testing all associated tasks

Potential application: Specific application on reliable, sustainable and cost effective space

exploration with rover assistance.

Reference:

1. URC Official Website- http://urc.marssociety.org/home/requirements-guidelines 2. Protocase Inc.- http://www.protocase.com/, http://urc.marssociety.org/home/resources