Pub. 8 2018 Issue 1

21 MINING FOCUS regolith, which will be placed deeper beneath the surface. In addition to mining, the robots must also navigate obstacles including craters and large rocks. Another feature of this year’s robot is its collection conveyor which will be used to unload the material into the regolith collection bin. This design will allow the robot to maintain its orientation away from the collection bin and make it easier to automate the robot. Automation is a key focus of the competition and additional points will be awarded for increasing levels of robot autonomy. The Utah team has three students dedicated to automation, one of whom switched his major from computer science to computer engineering as a result of participating on the team during his freshman year. While the team is comprised primarily of mechanical, computer, and electrical engineers, the team also has one geologist who has become its 3D-printing expert. Here’s a look at the U’s robot for this year. The 2018 Utah Student Robotics robot The robot starts in a compacted state in order to start within the size constraints of the competition. At the start of a competition round, the excavator/digger will extend to its full length. The robot will then traverse the arena to the digging area. In the digging area, the robot will insert the digger into the ground and start spinning the bucket chain. The buckets will collect material and deposit it onto the collection conveyor. After a sufficient amount of material has been collected, the robot will remove the excavator from the ground and traverse to the collection bin. The robot will then back up to the collection bin such that the top of the collection conveyor is above the bin. To deposit material, the robot will run its collection conveyor and move the material into the collection bin. This process, starting with traversing the arena, will be repeated as time allows. The Utah Student Robotics has received help from the following sponsors: Utah Space Grant Consortium, Iron While the competition is designed for space, it also has real-world applications. Caterpillar is a large sponsor of the competition and actively recruits students from the best teams for internships and full-time work on automation and engineering projects. Mountain Designs, Optisys, QRP, Northrop Grumman, Taulman, Ninjatek, and Azomite. This year’s competition is set to occur May 14-18, at the Kennedy Space Center. The team still has hours of final prep work and tests ahead of them, plus a 36-hour road trip to Florida with their robot. While the team has had most of its material donated by sponsors, donations for travel expenses and future robots are highly appreciated. The team also does outreach events, showing off the robot to schools and teaching K-12 students about robotics and mining. Some of their 2017 outreach events are listed below: Stargazing at Timpanogos Cave TEDx Salt Lake City 2017 Utah STEM Fest Girl Scouts STEM Night Robotics Lecture at Davis High School Force and Motion Lesson at Parkside Elementary Beehive STEM Expo Teen Tech Fest Questions, donations, or outreach opportunities may be sent to UtahStudentRobotics@gmail.com Go Utes! X