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DOI: 10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0111205
PDF

Developing a Mining Robot for Mars Exploitation: NASA Robotics Mining Competition (RMC)

Author 1: Tariq Tashtoush
Author 2: Agustin Velazquez
Author 3: Andres Aranguren
Author 4: Cristian Cavazos
Author 5: David Reyes
Author 6: Edgar Hernandez
Author 7: Emily Bueno
Author 8: Esteban Otero
Author 9: Gerardo Zamudio
Author 10: Hector Casarez
Author 11: Jorge Rullan
Author 12: Jose Rodriguez
Author 13: Juan Carlos Villarreal
Author 14: Michael Gutierrez
Author 15: Patricio Rodriguez
Author 16: Roberto Torres
Author 17: Rosaura Martinez
Author 18: Sanjuana Partida

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), Volume 11 Issue 12, 2020.

  • Abstract and Keywords
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Abstract: This paper focuses on demonstrating the design and build stages, and effort done by Systems Engineering students team (DustyTRON NASA Robotics) to develop a mining robot that was used in the 2016 National Aeronautics & Space Ad-ministration (NASA) Robotics Mining Competition (RMC). The objective of the NASA RMC challenge is to encourage engineering students to design and build a robot that will excavate, collect, and deposit a simulated Martian regolith. Mining water/ice, and regolith is very essential task for space missions and resource utilization, they contain many elements such as metals, minerals, and other compounds. The Mining will allow extracting pro-pellants from the regolith such as Oxygen and Hydrogen that can be used as an energy source for in-space transportation. In addition, the space mining system can be used in tasks that are important for human and robotics scientific investigations. The DustyTRON team consists of Systems Engineering students, who are divided into 1) hardware design, 2) electrical circuitry and 3) software development sub-teams. Each team works in harmony to overcome the challenges had previously experienced, such as heavy weight, circuitry layout design, autonomous and user control modes, and better software interface. They designed and built a remote controlled excavator robot, that can collect and deposit a minimum of ten (10) kilograms of regolith simulant within 15 minutes. The developed robot with its innovative mining mechanisms and control system and software will assist NASA in enhancing the current methodologies used for space/planet exploration and resources’ mining especially the Moon and Mars. NASA’s going-on project aims to send exploration robots that collect resources for analysis before sending astronauts. In 2016, only 56 United State (US) teams were invited to participate, and DustyTRON was one of three university teams from the state of Texas, the team placed the 16th in overall performance. This paper will address the full engineering life-cycle process including research, concept design and development, constructing the robot and system closeout by delivering the team’s robot for the competition in Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Keywords: NASA Robotics Mining competition; mining robot; ice regolith; autonomous; NASA space exploration; systems life-cycle; mechanical structure design; control system; systems engineering

Tariq Tashtoush, Agustin Velazquez, Andres Aranguren, Cristian Cavazos, David Reyes, Edgar Hernandez, Emily Bueno, Esteban Otero, Gerardo Zamudio, Hector Casarez, Jorge Rullan, Jose Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Villarreal, Michael Gutierrez, Patricio Rodriguez, Roberto Torres, Rosaura Martinez and Sanjuana Partida, “Developing a Mining Robot for Mars Exploitation: NASA Robotics Mining Competition (RMC)” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA), 11(12), 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0111205

@article{Tashtoush2020,
title = {Developing a Mining Robot for Mars Exploitation: NASA Robotics Mining Competition (RMC)},
journal = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
doi = {10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0111205},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2020.0111205},
year = {2020},
publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
volume = {11},
number = {12},
author = {Tariq Tashtoush and Agustin Velazquez and Andres Aranguren and Cristian Cavazos and David Reyes and Edgar Hernandez and Emily Bueno and Esteban Otero and Gerardo Zamudio and Hector Casarez and Jorge Rullan and Jose Rodriguez and Juan Carlos Villarreal and Michael Gutierrez and Patricio Rodriguez and Roberto Torres and Rosaura Martinez and Sanjuana Partida}
}



Copyright Statement: This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, even commercially as long as the original work is properly cited.

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