Senior Capstone Design Project Mars Rover Team
Team: David Biesinger, Jacob Cardon, Spencer Daines, Samuel Golding, AJ Hall, Riley Hutchings, Gabriel Larson, Dallin Miller, Spencer North and Derek Pinder
Project Description
The University Rover Challenge (URC) is an international competition where university teams design and build rovers for Mars-like missions. Our club designs, builds, and tests a rover to complete tasks like autonomous navigation, servicing, and science operations. This gives us hands-on experience applying engineering to real-world problems.
Design Description
The rover is designed as an integrated system capable of performing mobility, manipulation, autonomous navigation, and science tasks in a Mars-like environment. It combines a rigid four-wheel suspension for reliable terrain traversal, a GearWurx 3.0 robotic arm for precise task execution, and onboard systems for autonomy and data collection. The overall design emphasizes reliability, modularity, and efficient system integration to ensure consistent performance during mission operations.
Performance Overview
Analysis and testing verified the rover met performance requirements, constraints, and design goals. Structural and mobility analyses ensured components could withstand expected loads and terrain conditions, while subsystem testing validated drive performance and arm functionality. Integration testing confirmed reliable operation of all systems working together.
| Variable | Target | Threshold | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Rover Mass | 40 kg | 50 kg | 37.19 kg |
| Maximum Rover Size | 1.1 m x 1.1 m x 1.1 m | 1.2 m x 1.2 m x 1.2 m | 1.19 m x 1.12 m x 1.14 m |
| Maxiumum Rover Arm Lift Capacity | 7 kg | 5 kg | 1.5 kg |
| Minimum Distance Rover stopped from Autonomous Target | 2 m | 3 m | Undetermined |
| Minimum Distance for Radio Signal between Rover and Controller | 1.5 km | 1 km | 0.47 km |
| Rover Operation Temperature | 120 °F | 100 °F | Unable to test |
| Acceptable Range for Radio Frequency used in Radio Signal between Rover and Controller | 3.525 MHz - 1300 MHz | 902 MHz - 928 MHz | 24.01 MHz - 24.73 MHz |
| Time to remove all modular equipment | 5 min | 10 min | 6 min |
| Depth that rover is able to drill | 20 cm | 10 cm | 14 cm |
| Mass of sample that the rover is able to collect | 15 g | 5 g | 20 g |
| Water and Dust protection rating pursuant to IEC 60529 | IP52 | IP41 | IP31 |
Table 1: Required performance values and threshold
Hardware
The rover's hardware system is a durable, modular platform supporting mobility and manipulation. A rigid four-wheel suspension ensures reliable terrain traversal, while the GearWurx 3.0 robotic arm enables precise sample collection, all built on a robust chassis for dependable field performance.
Science
The science module that attaches to the rover is a 2-stage coring drill that's design focuses on keeping the soil sample, it collects, as undisturbed as possible. The module uses a camera for taking pictures of the layers in the soil in order to create a stratigraphic image of the sample. The sample is then stored in vials containing moisture probes used for checking for the existence of water. On board tests in the form of a hydrogen peroxide pour that foams in the presence of life, and bioluminescent assays to check for light-based reactions, are used to determine the existence of microbes.
Autonomous
Our Mars rover team developed an autonomous navigation system built on ROS 2 and ArduRover, leveraging a flight controller architecture similar to that used in unmanned aerial vehicles. This approach enables robust, real-time decision making by integrating sensor data, localization, and path planning within a modular and scalable software framework. By adapting proven drone flight-control hardware for ground operations, the rover benefits from reliable low-level control, precise motor actuation, and established safety features, while ROS 2 manages higher-level autonomy and communication between subsystems. Together, this system allows the rover to navigate challenging terrain with minimal human intervention, demonstrating a flexible and efficient platform for planetary exploration.
Electronics
The electrical system of the rover is running on a DC voltage network to power all necessary components. Primary functions are operated using motors and other sensors, with the motors running power through ESCs, or electronic speed controllers, to regulate the voltage at a given time running into the motor to determine the speeds the motors turn at. Communications to the ESCs and sensors are all relayed to the main computer through a microcontroller development board, in the case of the Rover we are using a Teensy 4.1, using either PWM or series connections to send the information across the systems.
Conclusion
Overall, the design met most requirements but fell short in frequency range and radio signal distance, indicating a need for further testing to fully assess the rover's operational capabilities. Key lessons learned include the importance of organizing work around discrete tasks with clear deliverables rather than full sub-assemblies to reduce coordination bottlenecks, avoiding overextending team members by setting clearer priorities and protecting time for critical work, beginning integration testing earlier and conducting it more frequently to identify subsystem interface issues sooner, and explicitly budgeting time and resources for redesign and iteration. Future improvements should prioritize extending radio communication range, increasing arm lift capacity through drivetrain and structural redesign, refining the science module to meet sample mass targets, improving sealing to achieve IP52 protection, expanding autonomous navigation testing across varied terrain, and strengthening the front suspension rocker mount to withstand competition demands, with targeted engineering analyses and upgrades planned to address each of these gaps before the next competition cycle.
Thank you Jackson Graham and Amanda Olsen for advising us.
Thank you to our sponsors for their support.