NASA Lunabotics Competition
NASA Lunabotics Competition
Build rover to autonomously traverse, mine, and transport regolith in a lunar simulated environment.
I have been on the team for three years: President my junior year, excavation my sophomore year, and deposition my freshman year
A teammate and I suited up at the competition in 2019
The bucket chain excavator mines BP-1 lunar simulant and drops it onto the conveyor belt
Lunabotics 2020-2021 - President
Facilitate communication among system hierarchies to ensure proper integration in a 41-member team
Track and distribute team’s $18,000 budget to cover year-long project expenses
Completed first iteration 2 months faster than previous years despite COVID setbacks by implementing weekly scrum
Lead author for systems engineering paper -------->
Testing drive autonomy in the volleyball court
Breaking ground with autonomous excavation testing!
Lunabotics 2019-2020 - Excavation Team
Calculated beam lengths to reach mining depth while accounting for size, motion, and structural constraints
Designed modular mount to frame allowing entire excavation mechanism to be removed with four pins
Self-fabricated beams, mounts, and other interfaces in the Vanderbilt machine shop
CAD model of the full robot at CDR
Rapid prototype of the excavator using scrap metal for beams and 3D printed parts for linkages
Lunabotics 2018-2019 - Deposition Team
This cleat was assembled by laser cutting acrylic, bending it with a hot air gun, and riveting it to the conveyor belt
CAD model of conveyor subsystem
Designed inclined conveyor using mostly plastic materials to drastically reduce cost and weight
Final conveyor used only 20% of cost budget and 50% of weight budget, allowing resources to be reallocated
Fabricated corrugated sidewalls and gearbox covers to dustproof mechanism against harsh lunar environment
Assembled conveyor showing cleats and sidewalls