News European Rover Challenge 2014

[kamaz]

See also Entire album on imgur (102 images)

European Rover Challenge 2014 took place September 5-7, 2014 in Chęciny, Poland. The event was organized by Mars Society Polska, and it included:

- a competition of Mars rovers (which is the main topic of this post). This was the first competence of Mars rovers in Europe, and the first one open to the public.
- a conference including a keynote by Robert Zubrin
- and a science-technology picnic, where the public could watch Sun through a telescope, see UAVs, flight simulators, robots, and other cool things.

Unfortunately I only learned about the event after it was already underway on Friday, and both me and my girlfriend had to work on Saturday, but we made it to Chęciny on Sunday, so I will share some pictures.

There were 10 rover teams in total, 7 from Poland, and from Egypt, Columbia and India. This is the final score:

This was the proving ground:

As you can see, the terrain was prepared with Mars-like soil (not sure what it was exactly). The public viewing places were to the left side of the photo -- you can see the shadows of the spectators. The rover was controlled from the tent, so the team (here, the Colombians) has no direct visual and must rely on video feed / telemetry.

As a side note, a major issue was that teams used wi-fi radios for controlling rovers. This was a problem due to a large number of wifi-enabled phones in the pockets of the spectators. In short, we've spent a lot of time watching stuck rovers, while the competing teams, instead of completing assignments, were frantically trying to re-establish datalinks and the announcer was repeating calls for everyone to switch the phones off. So, if any of you is going to build Mars rovers -- avoid using 2.4GHz bands for communication, and if you are going to organize a competition -- either inform the teams upfront about the expected RF environment or give them radios working in a licensed band. The winning team solved the interference problem by using directional antennas:

and analog video technology:

As the pitstop area was open to the public, close encounters with a rover were possible:

It was also possible to visit the team's pitstops and see them working on the rovers.

The above photo shows the Egyptian team, whose rover suffered from some kind of explosion (lithium battery?) the day before and had visible damage:

But they didn't give up and they have eventually scored third place.

 

[kamaz]

On the third day we could see two competitions. The first one required the rover to retrieve this element (it had to be grabbed by the brown part):

and transport to another location. Here is a winning rover in this competition:

(unfortunately the last part is not recorded because my phone discharged)

First, the rover had to approach the white box.

At this point, the judges would measure the distance between the rover and the box.

Then, pick up the element -- this would take several tense minutes:

Finally, success!

Accompanied by Martian lifeforms media, team members and judges, the rover, still holding the element, then had to drive across the terrain...

...over to the second location where, after some careful measuring...

...it would deposit the element in place...

...and finally drive back to the starting point.

The sample retrieval mission had tree parts. In the first location...

...the rover had to pick up a rock (points were given according to the size of the rock)...

...and deposit it into a sample holder.

After driving over to the second location...

...the rover was supposed to take a sand sample...

...from the ant hill...

...and also deposit it into a sample holder.

(NB this team succeeded in taking the sand sample, but they have lost most of it when moving it into the sample holder -- although the arbiters later determined that 1 gram of sand made it into the container, so some points were given.)

The third part of the sample retrieval mission was to recover white sand buried 10cm under the surface. When I was there, only the Colombian team attempted this task, because their rover had a drill:

Unfortunately, their attempt was unsuccesful -- the drill jammed and was damaged.

 

[kamaz]

If you got bored with the rovers, then you could try on a Mars suit...

...or visit a scientific picnic and do chemical experiments...

...see models of Leonardo's flying machines (these seem to be a permanent exhibition)...

...watch the sun through the telescope...

...or a radiotelescope.

(NB -- both Polish companies selling telescopes had their exhibitions, so I think there's a good chance that some sales will be made from this.)

Or you could have a robot...

...to give you a candy.

---------- Post added at 05:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------



See also Entire album on imgur (102 images)

Bonus -- rover vs. a staff member: