URC News
2019 University Rover Challenge Crowns New Champion
The University Rover Challenge (URC) awarded the title of World’s Top Mars Rover to the IMPULS team from Kielce University of Technology in Poland on June 1. The 2019 rendition of URC hosted 34 rovers and more than 500 students from ten countries at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. URC is an annual competition which asks college students to design and build the world’s best Mars rover. The win for the IMPULS team, their first ever, comes after a strong third place finish in 2018. The rest of the 2019 podium featured returning teams with breakout performances, vaulting each into the top three for the first time in their respective teams’ histories. The Ryerson Rams Robotics (R3) team from Ryerson University in Canada finished in second place, and the Stanford Student Robotics team from Stanford University in the United States finished in third place.  The international robotics competition for college students, which is part of the Mars Society’s Rover Challenge Series, featured an elite field of teams vying to build the world’s best student-designed Mars rover. 84 teams from 13 countries took part in URC2019. Following a rigorous two-stage down-selection process 36 teams were invited to the field competition at MDRS. 34 teams from ten countries arrived with their rovers ready for the exciting challenges in the Utah desert. Reliability and ingenuity were the keys to success for several teams throughout the 3 day event, as the field competed in four incredibly difficult and unique events (Science Mission, Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mission, Equipment Servicing Mission, and Autonomous Traversal Mission). Each event tasked teams to deliver a complex system requiring a wide range of skills. The IMPULS team’s performance was highlighted by earning a perfect score in the Science Mission, in which the rover was tasked with analyzing several soil and rock samples, providing the team with the necessary data to deliver a field briefing to a judging panel of astrobiologists from NASA Ames Research Center. That performance ultimately secured the victory for IMPULS. While the champions earned 362.9 points (out of 500), an astounding seven teams scored above 300 points, an impressive and distinguished benchmark. Those teams included four from the United States (Stanford Student Robotics, the Mars Rover Design Team from Missouri University of Science & Technology, Cornell Mars Rover from Cornell University, and the Michigan Mars Rover Team from the University of Michigan), two from Poland (IMPULS, and the 2018 champions, PCz Rover Team from Czestochowa University of Technology, and one from Canada (Ryerson Rams Robotics). More than 1,000 students were involved in URC projects at their local universities during the 2018-2019 academic year. The rovers they built reflected the dedication, passion, and ingenuity of the student teams, a point that was not lost on the judges and industry representatives attending the event. URC was proud to welcome guests from Protocase, Honeybee Robotics, Microsoft, and NASA Ames Research Center who were able to help provide invaluable feedback to teams and help students see the connection between their current projects and future careers as industry leaders. The scores for all teams can be found at http://urc.marssociety.org/home/about-urc/urc2019-scores. For more information, visit URC online at: http://urc.marssociety.org, on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/universityroverchallenge), and on Twitter (https://twitter.com/URConMars). |
Congratulations to the URC2019 Podium
Congratulations to all teams at URC2019, including our top 3: 1: IMPULS (Kielce University of Technology, Poland) - 362.9 points 2: Ryerson Rams Robotics (Ryerson University, Canada) - 329.5 points 3: Stanford Student Robotics (Stanford University, USA) - 323.2 points All of the URC2019 scores have been posted! |
Important Weather Announcement
Teams should be advised that very unseasonable weather is impacting southern Utah, and may continue to be of concern through URC2019. Significant rain has made off-road conditions extremely difficult, and forecasts continue to underestimate the amount of rainfall. Safety is the top priority at URC; teams are encouraged to be prepared and use good judgement.
It is still too early to predict exactly what the conditions will be during URC. Conditions may improve, allowing URC to proceed without any impact. Until then, stay safe and plan ahead! |
Behind the Challenge - Creating the Equipment Servicing Lander
In the months leading up to the 2018 University Rover Challenge (URC), the judges gave a separate challenge to the team from Protocase, long-time sponsor of URC. The challenge was simple but bold: design and build a piece of hardware for the URC2018 Equipment Servicing Task that fit the scope of the competition and scale of the rovers. Protocase worked closely with judges to define requirements and better understand the range of robotic control teams would be expected to execute in the field. From the initial set of requirements, Protocase engineers unleashed their creative vision as the team iterated through CAD models. By May, 2018 major components were heading into production, showcasing the myriad fabrication techniques at Protocase's disposal. By the end of the month the components of the rover, having undergone factory fit checks in Canada, had arrived in the desert of southern Utah ready for final assembly. Within a matter of hours, the URC judges, having never before seen any of the components in person, were able to construct the new flagship assembly and unveil it for teams. Watch more on this story below, but don't worry about that being the end of the story. After undergoing a few modifications in the off-season, the lander will be back for URC2019, being held May 30 - June 1, 2019 at the Mars Desert Research Station! To see how Protocase can help turn your vision into reality in record time, visit http://www.protocase.com. |
URC2019 Competition Schedule Posted
The URC2019 Competition Schedule has been posted as of May 22, 2019. Please note that this schedule is subject to changes prior to the start of the competition. Visit the URC2019 Schedule page for more information. |
Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mission Course Posted
The judges have released the course map and detailed instructions for the URC2019 Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mission:
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Honeybee Robotics Joins as Sponsor of URC2019
The University Rover Challenge is excited to announce that Honeybee Robotics has joined as a sponsor for the 2019 competition! Honeybee Robotics has been actively involved in URC2019 through their participation in webinars for teams earlier this year, and will be serving as guest judges for the finals. Students will have the opportunity to network with company representatives at the URC Meet and Greet Hosted by Protocase the evening before competition starts.
 Honeybee Robotics, a subsidiary of Ensign-Bickford Industries (EBI), has been a leader in research and development for applied robotics for over 35 years. Honeybee has three main offices across the United States, each focused on a unique aspect of the spacecraft mechanisms market. Their Longmont, CO headquarters specializes in production for a variety of satellite actuators, gimbals, and control avionics; their Brooklyn, NY office specializes in servicing robotics and terrestrial applications, including for the oil & gas and medical industries; and their Pasadena, CA office specializes in unique planetary exploration systems for missions through the solar system. Honeybee’s flagship programs have included the first mechanism to access the interior of a rock on another planet (the Rock Abrasion Tool on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers) and the first hardware to ever touch extra-terrestrial ice (the Icy Soil Acquisition Device on the Phoenix Mars lander), among other systems in the critical sample handling chain on various NASA missions.
 EBI shares a dedication to innovation and a commitment to technical expertise across all its business units. As a result, they are excited to support the development of the next generation of industry professionals by sponsoring URC 2019.
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36 Teams Advance to URC2019 Finals
After the most competitive System Acceptance Review (SAR) milestone in the competition's history, 36 teams from 10 countries have been selected as finalists to compete at the 2019 University Rover Challenge (URC), held May 30 - June 1 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah! In each of URC's 13 years, the student teams have continued to innovate and challenge each other to build the most advanced Mars rover possible. The SAR is a competitive milestone in which teams' scores are compared, and only the top 36 teams advance. In 2019 an astounding 53 teams scored above the qualification standard from the previous year. Teams will now spend the next two and a half months refining their rovers and conducting advanced testing to prepare themselves for the field competition in one of the most extreme and Mars-like environments on Earth! |
Announcing the URC2019 Webinar Series, Hosted by Protocase
We are excited to announce a new webinar series for 2019, hosted by our good friends at Protocase! The series will kick off with 5 topics over the coming weeks, and we hope to offer more topics in the weeks and months to come. Additional details for webinars will be updated for each of the sessions (they will not all be held at the same time). Teams will be required to register for each webinar; due to hosting constraints each team will only be able to join from one computer. Registration details will be sent directly to each Student Team Lead. January 23, 11am MST (UTC-7) - Intro to Working with Protocase: How to Use Protocase’s Custom Manufacturing Services An overview for teams who are taking advantage of the annual URC sponsorship offer from Protocase. This webinar will explain our capabilities as a custom manufacturer of enclosures, parts and components for both sheet metal and CNC machining. Our priority is to make sure your orders are processed smoothly so that they can be built in 2-3 days, in order to give you as much time as possible to test your rover. We will also share some key design guidelines to keep in mind when designing and submitting your order. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the webinar. January 30, 10am MST (UTC-7) - Project Management Essentials, Featuring Honeybee Robotics David Smyth, the Director of Flight Software for Honeybee Robotics, will lead this webinar designed to help your team be successful by applying project management best practices throughout the system development life cycle. Learn how to use internal milestones to keep your team driven and on schedule, and how a rigorous testing and evaluation plan can be the key to your team's success. Leverage lessons learned from NASA and other space industry leaders to better understand system failures and how to mitigate their occurrence (or recurrence!). February 8, 11am MST (UTC-7) - Preparing for the System Acceptance Review and Q&A Updates with URC Judges Join URC judges for a discussion of the System Acceptance Review process. This is your opportunity to hear the judges discuss what they are looking for when evaluating reports and videos during this down-selection milestone. Judges will also be providing an update on key questions and answers that have been posted since the initial release of the URC2019 rules in September, 2018. February 27, 11am MST (UTC-7) - The Importance of Failure Logging with Protocase & Honeybee Robotics The desert of southern Utah is a challenging environment unlike any campus lab, and nothing experiences this lesson quite like a URC rover! In 2018 URC and Protocase worked closely with teams to document the highs and lows of system performance, documenting the most common failure modes from the competition. Join us for a discussion of the results so that your rover can be prepared long before it gets its first taste of the analog-Martian soil. This webinar will also cover lessons and best practices that your team can use to track issues through your project lifecycle to better prepare for competition. Date TBD - Ask an Expert Stay tuned for more details! |
International Field of Teams Ready for URC2019
84 teams of college students representing 13 countries are set to take on the 2019 University Rover Challenge. Teams will spend the academic year designing and fabricating prototype next-generation rovers that could one day support astronauts on the surface of Mars.
The next major milestone for teams is the Preliminary Design Review, which requires teams to submit a report to judges by November 30. A System Acceptance Review milestone in March will down-select to the top 36 teams who will compete from May 30 - June 1, 2019 at the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah.
The full list of URC2019 teams appears on the URC Team Info page.
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