Mars Rover – Sample Return Robot Challenge

I was the Electrical Team Lead for the OSU Mars Rover team during the 2014-2015 Academic year. I lead the development of a “Mars Rover” for the Sample Return Robot Challenge, sponsored by NASA and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I lead the development of  an entire embedded robotic system that interacted with an Embedded Computer to provide a solid foundation for the Software team to build off of. A list of the major features of the system can be found below:

  • Dimension Engineering “Saberteeth” Motor Controllers
  • Custom Atmel ATxmega microcontroller PCBs (called “Brainboards”)
    • Brainboards were used as “hosts” for a number of daughterboards that preformed specialized functions (e.g. Stepper Driving, XBee breakouts, etc.)
  • C++ fimware implementation on microcontroller boards (ATxmega128A3U)
    • Innovative features to reduce unnecessary replication of code
  • Power distribution and management
  • XBee “Pause Switch” Implementation
  • Stereo Vision System for obstacle avoidance
  • NVidia Jetson Embedded Computer
Final 2015 System Documentation

Project GitHub Page.

Most of the Mars Rover Leadership Team.

Taken during the Sample Return Robot Challenge in Worcester Massachusetts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.