Oakton Students to Compete in NASA Robotic Mining Competition
(April 30, 2018) Oakton Community College students are aiming for Mars while keeping their feet firmly planted on the ground. Members of the college’s Oaktobotics team will participate in the 2018 NASA Robotic Mining Competition (NASA RMC), scheduled May 14-18, at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
Oakton’s robotics team comprises students enrolled in an engineering independent study course taught by Angelo Gero, electronics and computer technology lecturer and team advisor. Team members include Sandja Choudhurry (Niles), Faran Erafani (Morton Grove), Alexander Golik (Glenview), Szymon Mirek (Des Plaines), Jason Modi (Des Plaines), Jimit Modi (Niles), Sean Nixon (Linclonwood), Devery Paltzer (Skokie), Luke Paltzer (Skokie), Ayush Patel (Des Plaines), Edward Rosenthal (Lake Zurich), Ben Sisserman (Des Plaines), Peter Solomon (Skokie), Jeremiah Stymacks (Niles), Nathan Sugatan (Niles), Elizabeth Sutton (Niles) and Jacob Wachala (Northbrook).
Oakton is one of two community colleges competing against with more than 50 colleges and universities nationwide at NASA RMC this year. The competition pits undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities in a design-build-operate contest in which each team’s remote controlled robot tries to outmaneuver the others by navigating a simulated, chaotic Martian terrain and excavating ice simulant (gravel). The robot that mines the most gravel in the allotted time wins. Points are also scored for the scientific presentation of the team’s technology and the use of social media to create public excitement around the competition.
“The team is working hard to get everything ready for the competition,” Gero notes. “We’re still working to improve last year’s version. It will be quite the challenge, as the 54 teams participating this year is the most in the history of the competition. We still have lots of tests to run, but the team is confident and will be ready to go.”
Oakton’s robotics team has fared well at recent competitions, having finished second two years ago and 13th in 2017. In fact, the team has finished among the top 15 teams in each of the past four years.
“Other teams spend more on a sensor than we do on our entire project,” says Stymacks, project manager and team captain for Oaktobotics. “However, engineering within the limits of what you have brings out the true ingenuity in our team. For example, we used the springs from a ballpoint pen as the shock absorbers for our circuit boards.”
NASA’s practical interest in hosting a robotics competition is to one day establish a human presence on Mars where mining would be important to the mission.
“NASA directly benefits from the competition by encouraging the development of innovative robotic concepts,” NASA Project Manager Richard Johanboeke says. “These concepts may result in unique solutions which may be applied to an actual excavation device. Advances in off-world mining have the potential to significantly contribute to our nation’s space vision and NASA space exploration operations.”
The trip to the Kennedy Space Center is the culmination of more than nine months of hard work. While NASA does not impose a spending cap, Oakton’s team is able to compete thanks in part to a $20,000 grant from the Oakton Educational Foundation.
