Oakton Students Aiming for Mars at NASA Competition

(May 13, 2015) Oakton students are aiming for Mars while keeping their feet firmly planted on the ground. The College is one of just 49 participants – and one of only three community colleges in the country – to participate in the Sixth Annual NASA Robotics Mining Competition, scheduled May 18 – 22, at Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. The contest requires undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities to design and build a remote controlled robot capable of navigating a simulated Martian chaotic terrain, excavate Martian volcanic rock fragments (regolith), and deposit at least 10 kilograms of the material into a collector bin within 10 minutes.

Members of Oakton’s team include: Raphael Codrean of Lincolnwood; Azher Ghandi of Skokie; William Kann of Park Ridge; Karolina Klimont of Des Plaines; Mahavish Mahmood of Norridge; Marcus Petre of Glenview; Inamullah Sharif of Skokie; Mohankumarvarma Vegesna of Niles: and Nagasuryarama Vegesna of Niles. The squad comprises students enrolled in an engineering independent study course taught by Angelo Gero, an electronics and computer technology lecturer at the College, who serves as the group’s advisor.

Designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the NASA competition requires teams to consider a number of design and operation factors, including dust tolerance and projection, communications, vehicle mass, energy/power required, and autonomy.

The trip to the Kennedy Space Center is the culmination of more than nine months of hard work. While NASA imposed no spending cap, Oakton’s team created a robot – Metal Fury – thanks in part to two grants (one from the Oakton Educational Foundation and another from NASA) totaling more than $9,000.

The 2015 team consists of five students (Codrean, Ghandi, Klimont, Sharif, and Vegesna) who also competed last year placing 12th out of 36 teams. Based on that successful showing, returning team members strategized a way to improve upon the previous entry.

According to Ghandi, Oakton’s captain, this robotic entry, which is made of aluminum and consists of four motors and multiple electronic components, including sensors, is self-driven and was built to maneuver through NASA’s obstacle course without having to be controlled remotely unlike previous versions.

“We’re confident about Metal Fury and we like its chances in this year’s competition,” Ghandi said, “because we concentrated on making it so autonomous. Having so many returning students is a big plus. Most teams that are successful in this competition have a lot of experience working together.”