NASA Lunabotics Challenge
Nearly fifty University Teams recently gathered in Florida for the NASA Lunabotics Challenge. The robots are tasked with driving, digging, and depositing regolith—the fragmented rock material that covers the moon’s surface—in a lunar simulant. Beyond robotics and mechatronics, the program teaches team work, project management and industry collaboration.
For the University of Rochester team and ‘Melbot’ this meant reaching out to Rochester Alumni Jarrod Orszulak for selecting an appropriate rotary encoder for the angle of the bucket for the deposition system. Together a POSTIAL rotary encoder was specified with IP67 ratings to survive the dusty environment and a 4-20mA signal output and 5/8” hub-shaft both made for easy integration, because the team still had a full engineering courseload in addition to the project. Compared to the use of traditional switches the encoder provided more accuracy and resolution, and thus more control when emptying the bucket.
When all was said and done the Rochester team finished 19th of the 43 teams who participated, their best finish to date.
Josh Choi ’25, an electrical and computer engineering major from Long Island, performed much of the electronics, control, and software work for the project, including the encoder selection and integration. He says the challenges and sleepless nights were worth it.
“It’s undoubtedly the highlight of my time at Rochester,” he says. “Having the opportunity to build a fully functioning robot from scratch while working alongside our team of awesome engineers was an invaluable experience I’ll always carry with me and will be crucial in my career going forward.”
Everight Position sponsors several student projects and teams each year. To learn more on how Everight can collaborate with your team contact Jarrod Orszulak , jarrod@evrtp.com .
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