ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi │ One learns from many sources │ A web publication from the Office of the Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
The team is being judged on the work of their mining robot “Spock,” which, via remote control, will navigate obstacles to scoop up and move simulant Mars material.
5/18—UH Hilo’s robot, “Spock,” in action in the mining arena. In their first competition heat of 10 minutes, via remote, the Hilo team mined 6.6 kilograms of simulated lunar regolith. The students are controlling the robot from a mission control van outside, viewing only via video cameras. At left, team faculty lead Marc Roberts is seen recording the event. The UH Hilo team is sending in photos daily, post will be updated.
By Staff/UH Hilo Stories.
The University Space Robotics Team from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, this week for the team’s inaugural appearance at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC) event running May 16-20. The competition is for university-level students to design and build a mining robot that can traverse the simulated Martian chaotic terrain. The team of six students officially represents the University of Hawaiʻi at this prestigious national event.
The team is being judged on the work of their mining robot (named “Spock” after a famous Vulcan), which, via remote control, will navigate obstacles to scoop up Mars regolith simulant, then transport the material to a collection bin at the starting gate within a 10-minute competition heat.
UH Hilo Space Robotics Team with their robot Spock, before leaving for competition in FL. (l-r) Carli Hand, Joerg Michael Weber, Ethan Paguirigan, Daryl Albano, Derek Hand, and Stephanie Mapes. Photo by Marc Roberts.
The team is comprised of UH Hilo students Ethan Paguirigan, Carli Hand, Daryl Albano, Derek Hand, Stephane Mapes and Michael Weber with faculty team leader Marc Roberts.
John Hamilton, logistics and education/public outreach manager at the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) and an instructor with the UH Hilo physics and astronomy department, is the club faculty advisor and an invited judge at the NASA RMC for four years.
5/18—At left, the UH Hilo Robotics Team listens to Janine Captain, at right, explain the Gas Chromatograph flight unit for the upcoming Resource Prospector mission to the Lunar South Pole. The project started as RESOLVE (Regolith and Environmental Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction) with three NASA field tests on Hawaiʻi Island in 2008, 2010 and 2012 as a means to detect and harvest water on the Moon. RPM will enter the permanently shadowed polar craters to do this. PISCES (Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems) conducted these unique In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) field tests on the mid-slopes of Maunakea when PISCES was part of UH Hilo. PISCES is now an attached agency of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.5/18—Rachel Cox escorts the Vulcan Team through KSC Swampworks, the hub of innovative technology at the Cape. Here she is demonstrating the electrodynamic dust-removal system (EDS) being integrated through PISCES’s mentoring project with Hawaiʻi high schools Iʻolani and Kealakehe to place this experiment on the surface of the Moon via private teams from the Google Lunar X-Prize competition.5/18—Team Vulcan visits the Applied Physics Lab for Resource Prospector. Lunar sample drill and extraction module (LHS) is demonstrated along with the control software.5/18—UH Hilo’s robot, Spock, in action in the mining arena. In their first competition heat of 10 minutes, via remote, the Hilo team mined 6.6 kilograms of simulated lunar regolith. The students are controlling the robot from a mission control van outside, viewing only via video cameras. At left, team faculty lead Marc Roberts is seen recording the event.5/18—This photo shows the robot dumping the load. At the bottom right of the photo is the Caterpillar teleoperated D-10 dozer that is in Arizona. UH Hilo student team members Carli Hand and Mike Weber successfully completed the skill course from this console in Florida. Caterpillar is the main corporate sponsor of the Robotic Mining Competition and provides the Autonomy Award.5/18—Team passes inspection, judged by NASA engineer legend Joe Kosmo (left). The top award at the competition is named in his honor. Kosmo developed the first astronaut spacesuits.
May 17, 2016
5/17—Practice run today. Robot worked and mined 2 kg under remote control from adjacent trailer.5/17— Team member Carli Hand points out a part of the robot to inspectors.
May 16, 2016
5/16—UH Hilo University Space Robotics Team assembles their mining robot named Spock. The robot was disassembled into six parts for transport to Florida, taken as luggage, and then reassembled today.5/16—Teams prepare in the Robo-Pit.
