{"id":525002,"date":"2022-06-17T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=525002"},"modified":"2022-06-29T12:10:53","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T16:10:53","slug":"performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/","title":{"rendered":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rochester students banded together to overcome multiple crises while fielding their robot on a simulated lunar surface.<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got movement!\u201d announced Kurt Leucht, a NASA engineer and emcee of the space agency\u2019s 2022 Lunabotics competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A team of University of Rochester<\/a> undergraduates had to overcome one crisis after another to get their automated mining robot crawling over a replica lunar landscape at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a rollercoaster, to say the least,\u201d says team cocaptain Francesca Daszak \u201923, a mechanical engineering major. Despite that, the team won the Project Management Award with a $200 prize and the Nova Award, which is a new award created for first-year teams with impressive systems engineering work.<\/p>\n

Daszak is proud of the way her teammates\u2014competing together for the first time\u2014responded under pressure\u00a0against 47 other collegiate teams.<\/p>\n

Each year, the Lunabotics challenge invites select college students to receive practical experience in the full engineering lifecycle process, from a project management plan to testing a prototype. The goal of this year\u2019s competition, simulating an upcoming Artemis mission to the moon, was to field a robot that could navigate through the regolith<\/a> of the simulated lunar surface, dig far enough to retrieve a payload of gravel, then deliver the gravel to a designated container.<\/p>\n

The undergraduate robotics team put months of work into their automated mining robot.\u00a0The complex technological challenges of a fully autonomous robot required breaking the project into multiple tasks, assigning each task to a sub-team, then coordinating across sub-teams. That is the essence of systems engineering, which NASA emphasizes as a key part of the competition. (Read about the team\u2019s preparation<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"Students
Lunabotics team members work on their automated mining robot at the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: Francesca Daszak, Owen Wacha, Joshua Choi, and Benned Hedegaard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rochester, we have a problem \u2026 and a fix<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Rochester team aimed high, opting for a fully automated robot that would operate without any input from team members.\u00a0However, on the first day they discovered mechanical issues with the digging and deposition apparatus. Then the USB ports of the main computer failed. Then a bug in the coding made the robot almost impossible to control.<\/p>\n

Cocaptain Benned Hedegaard \u201922 of computer science and Joshua Choi \u201925 of electrical and computer engineering got to work finding and replacing the main computer board. Rachael He \u201922 of computer science worked with them well into the night and the following morning to completely rewrite code and develop workarounds for compatibility issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a testament to the strength of our team that through all of this, there was no blame placed on any team members. Everyone understood that the prime directive was to field the robot,\u201d Daszak says. \u201cGiven the circumstances, our team did an excellent job pulling together and showing NASA what we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prize money will go towards next year\u2019s competition expenses, she says. \u201cThe Nova Award came as a big surprise but is very encouraging,\u201d Daszak says. \u201cAll of our efforts in the systems engineering area paid off!\u201d<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s faculty advisor, Thomas Howard<\/a>, an expert in robotics and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was pleased that the students were able to overcome the problems in 24 hours, then get the robot moving in two attempts in the competition arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the way they worked together and applied engineering principles to field a robot. For a first-year team, I think they did quite well and learned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Group
University of Rochester Lunabotics team members at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Left to right: Christopher Piatek, Owen Wacha, Jack Rollman, Rachael He, Joshua Choi, Francesca Daszak, Benned Hedegaard, and faculty advisor Thomas Howard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Read more<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
\n

\"Student'sRochester students\u2019 award-winning device instantly detects sepsis via sweat<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Rochester undergraduates have developed a fast, noninvasive, affordable, and eco-friendly way to diagnose the life-threatening medical complication.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"studentRochester\u2019s Grand Challenges Scholars frame their research in a broad context<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Now in its fifth year, the program adds entrepreneurship, global experience, interdisciplinary study, and service to students \u201dsolution-oriented\u201d tool kit.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rochester undergraduate students banded together to overcome multiple crises while fielding their robot on a simulated lunar surface at Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":525032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18802,19382,23312,29502,18632,20932],"class_list":["post-525002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-department-of-computer-science","tag-department-of-electrical-and-computer-engineering","tag-department-of-mechanical-engineering","tag-featured-post-side","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences","tag-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPerformance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rochester undergraduate students banded together to overcome multiple crises while fielding their robot on a simulated lunar surface at Kennedy Space Center.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":703,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Department of Computer Science\",\"Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering\",\"Department of Mechanical Engineering\",\"featured-post-side\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\",\"undergraduate research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus & Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/\",\"name\":\"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/06\\\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"(l to r): Francesca Daszak, a NASA Lunabotics official, and Rachael He approach the Rochester team\u2019s automated mining robot in the competition arena at Kennedy Space Center. (Image from NASA livestream of Lunabotics MMXXII)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/\",\"name\":\"News Center\",\"description\":\"University of Rochester\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\",\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/author\\\/bmarcotte\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition","og_description":"Rochester undergraduate students banded together to overcome multiple crises while fielding their robot on a simulated lunar surface at Kennedy Space Center.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/","og_site_name":"News Center","article_published_time":"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bob Marcotte","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bob Marcotte","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/"},"author":{"name":"Bob Marcotte","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"headline":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition","datePublished":"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/"},"wordCount":703,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg","keywords":["Department of Computer Science","Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering","Department of Mechanical Engineering","featured-post-side","Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences","undergraduate research"],"articleSection":["Campus & Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/","name":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg","datePublished":"2022-06-17T17:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-29T16:10:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/fea-nasa-lunabotics.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"(l to r): Francesca Daszak, a NASA Lunabotics official, and Rachael He approach the Rochester team\u2019s automated mining robot in the competition arena at Kennedy Space Center. (Image from NASA livestream of Lunabotics MMXXII)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/performance-under-pressure-at-nasas-lunabotics-competition-525002\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Performance under pressure at NASA\u2019s Lunabotics competition"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/","name":"News Center","description":"University of Rochester","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/#\/schema\/person\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b","name":"Bob Marcotte","url":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/author\/bmarcotte\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525002"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525112,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525002\/revisions\/525112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}