Congratulations to the RISD Human Rover Team who came in second this weekend in the college/university division of the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge!
They seem to have won the Technology Challenge Award as well. The team does not seem to have had time to update their Facebook page. I only know about this because it came through on Instagram where I follow NASA. (The picture here is a screen grab.)
From the NASA ‘About the Challenge’ page.
Rovers will be human-powered and carry two students, one female and one male, over a half-mile obstacle course of simulated extraterrestrial terrain of craters, boulders, ridges, inclines, crevasses and depressions.
Each student team of six members is responsible for building their own rover, and the two course drivers must be chosen from the team.
As a part of the challenge, and before traversing the course, unassembled rover entries must be carried by the drivers to the course starting line with the unassembled components contained in a volume of 5 feet by 5 feet by 5 feet (dimension requirements). At the starting line, the entries will be assembled, readied for racing, and evaluated for safety. Assembly occurs one time prior to the first course run.
Wow. Congratulations to Team RISD!
Congratulations is the first order of business for this email. I watched the Rover in action several weeks ago and I am greatly impressed with the ingenuity and determination of the project. I have been a stalwart fan of space science forever though I lack engineering and scientific experience. Basically I am an armchair theorist. When I saw the Rover in action I thought that an additional feature might of use. If an independent ball and socket array of levers and gears (like a ten speed bike) were add to the frame work, gripping and grappling features could be insinuated above the transport chassis. They could be accessed independently to secure traction over the front and sides of the vehicle (and/or reverse gearing). I just had to put in my two cents. Think about it then relegate it to the proper repository for better or worse. Best wishes for you present and future endeavors. Jerry W.