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  • DESIGN. BUILD. ROVE.

    Northeastern University Mars Rover Team

  • ABOUT US

    We are a talented group of students from Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

     

    Our team is composed of students from a variety of majors, including engineering, computer science, and life science. We grew out of a collaboration between two highly successful clubs on campus, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) and the Northeastern chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

  • THE COMPETITION

    The Mars Society University Rover Challenge (URC) attracts teams of students from all over the world.

     

    Teams are invited annually to design and build a Mars Rover that can compete at the Mars Desert Research Society in southern Utah.

     

    The competition requires completion of four missions: the Science Mission (Life Detection), Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Mission, Equipment Servicing Mission, and Autonomous Traversal Mission. More information about the competition can be found here.

  • MEET THE TEAM

    We are in the process of taking headshots, more members will be here soon!

    Peter Whitney

    Faculty Advisor

    College of Engineering

    Garrit Strenge

    Team Lead/ Software Lead

    Computer Science & Computer Engineering

    Alex Zeng

    Financial Head

    Mechanical Engineering

    Shannon McInnis

    Software Co-Lead

    Computer Science

    Brooke Chalmers

    Software Co-Lead

    Grace McDonough

    Mechanical Co-Lead/ Mobility Lead

    Mechanical Engineering

    Ben Levin

    Mechanical Co-Lead

     

    Ben Thacher

    Electrical Co-lead

    Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Allison Care

    Electrical Co-lead

    Kara Lui

    Science Lead

    William Walling-Sotolongo

    Co-Secretary/ Software

    Computer Science

    Adharsh Kundala

    Co-Secretary/ Software

     

    Bryan Zeng

    Webmaster/ Software

    Computer Science & Business

    Abhinav Diddee

    Outreach Chair/ Electrical

    Heather Branan

    Mechanical

    Mechanical Engineering

    Jonathan Edelman

    Software

    Computer Science & Media Arts

    Brian Schubert

    Software

    Electrical & Computer Engineering

    Vincent Soubbotin

    Mechanical

    Sarah Woodlief

    Life Detection

    Jason Xu

    Life Detection

    Sanat Shajan

    Software

    Jason Cheung

    Software

    Noam Steinertomer

    Software

    Nick Frank

    Electrical

    Ben Lubas

    Software

    Karen Zhang

    Software

    Computer Science

    Matthew Goldgirsh

    Software

    Computer Science

    Dani McLaughlin

    Software

     

    Abhiram Pulavarthi

    Electrical

     

    Bryan Holsinger

    Business

     

    Armaan Agrawal

    Software

     

    Brennan Bezdek

    Electrical

     

    Jasmine Sajna

    Software

     

    Grace Irwin

    Electrical

     

    Luke DePinho

    Electrical

     

    Jason Kobrin

    Mechanical/ Business

     

    Grace Lapinig

    Mechanical

     

    Sofia Handzy

    Mechanical

     

    Jeffery Wang

    Software/ Science

     

    Evita Shein

    Electrical

     

    Yassine Bakhouch

    Mechanical

     

    Jesse Futerman

    Mechanical

     

    Grace DiScala

    Mechanical

     

    Dylan Bates

    Mechanical

     

    Asha Hassan

    Software/

    Mechanical

     

    Faith Lukang

    Mechanical/ Science

     

  • Previous Members

    “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” - Isaac Newton

    Vlad Vandalovsky

    Team Lead

    Computer Engineering

    Sanya Mittal

    Team Lead

    Chemistry

    Tom Degen

    Team Lead

    Mechanical Engineering

    Rigel Madraswalla

    Software Team Lead

    Mechanical Engineering

    Mohammed Laota

    Software Team

    Computer Science

    Jamin Eisenberg

    Electrical & Software Engineer

    Computer Science & Computer Engineering

  • SPONSORS

    Thank you to our sponsors! Without your help, our project would not be possible.

  • PAST SPONSORS

    Thank you to our past sponsors! Without your help, our project would not be possible.

  • UPDATES

    05/01/2020: NU ROVER is accepted to the 2020 University Rover Challenge

    View the URC acceptance video here:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWmJP_FHhik

    On May 1st, the Mars Society announced that 36 teams from 10 countries would be competing in the Utah desert this year - and NU ROVER was one of them! This is the second year in a row where NU ROVER has been accepted into the competition. Unfortunately, the actual competition did not take place in 2020 due to COVID-19, but the team is very excited to continue working and compete in URC 2021.

    02/12/20: Amazon Robotics and Boston Engineering Become Sponsors

    The team is excited to welcome Amazon Robotics and Boston Engineering as sponsors for our 2020 Rover, Watney Mk. 2. Both of these companies have rich histories of innovation in robotics and will be great partners going forward.

    07/22/2019: Watney Mk. 1 visits the Boston Museum of Science

    Pictured left: A colorful Watney surrounded by enthusiastic children and their families, eager to learn about STEM and space exploration.

    This past weekend, the team took Watney Mk. 1 to the Boston Museum of Science to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Watney got the chance to play with hundreds of parents and kids throughout the day while the team talked about the engineering design process, STEM education, and the Mars Society Competition in an interactive exhibition. The team would like to thank the Boston Museum of Science for the invitation and looks forward to coming back soon!

    06/04/2019: A successful performance at the 2019 University Rover Challenge

    Team members pictured at the competition Welcome BBQ, left, with the rover Watney Mk. 1. (Photo by Ted Myers)

    Last week, the team competed at the 2019 University Rover Challenge at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). The team is incredibly proud of how they performed in their first year at this competition and look forward to returning next year. They would like to thank the Mars Society for hosting this event as well as all of their sponsors, who they could never have done this without.

    03/22/19: NU ROVER is accepted to the University Rover Challenge

    View the URC acceptance video here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6qI4nvH5fg

    On March 22, the Mars Desert Research Society announced that 36 teams from 10 countries would be competing in the Utah desert this year - and NU ROVER was one of them! The team's hard work has paid off this year and is sure to shine at the competition, held during the last week of May at the MDRS Station outside of Hanksville, UT. Wish the team luck as they make the final push to design, build, and test the world's next best Mars rover.

    11/16/18: NU ROVER partners with STEM OUT for Friday Field Trips

    Pictured left: Systems Lead Dominic Yamarone acts as a target as students launch Skittles at him.

    Through a series called "Friday Field Trips," Northeastern's STEM OUT program connects university students with elementary school classes to teach STEM skills through engaging hands-on activities. Our team members chose to teach the topics of velocity and momentum this week by challenging the young students to build two fun mechanisms: a device to save a dropped egg and a catapult to launch Skittles as far as possible.

    10/22/18: NU ROVER partners with ASME for an FEA Workshop

    Tom Degen, Team Lead, hosted an interactive workshop for mechanical engineering students as part of the Monday Night Workshop series held by the Northeastern chapter of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Since FEA is a valuable engineering skill and a large component of designing a Mars rover, Tom taught students how to complete basic FEA in SOLIDWORKS using example parts from the rover. The event was a success and helped NU ROVER get the word out there about our team!

    10/12/18: The team completes their first internal design review

    The initial design review acted as a milestone for completing preliminary CAD and FEA and ensured team alignment on the full rover assembly. The team gave critical design feedback and fielded questions about each subsystem during the presentation. Overall, the review was a success and each subsystem team walked away with a strong understanding of next steps as we move towards the competition.

  • CONTACT US

    Interested in sponsoring us or joining our team? Let us know below!

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