AGH Space Systems defend their title at European Rover Challenge

As many as four challenges awaited 20 teams which qualified to the final round of the on-site formula. The first was the Presentation Task consisting in presenting the jury with a rover project, the entire team, tactics for the competition, and implemented technical solutions. 

Then, there was the Navigation Task, namely a mission aimed at checking the ability of the rover to autonomously move within a selected area. As part of the task, Kalman had to reach spots previously designated by the jury and then come back to the starting point. Owing to the autonomy system developed by the team, the AGH University rover performed the task without any difficulties. 

On the second day of the competition, two subsequent tasks took place. The Maintenance Task verified Kalman’s ability to use various elements installed in the operation panel. With its robotic arm, Kalman had to, among others, press the right switches, activate an electromagnet, measure its voltage, and place a metal plate on it. The organisers provided as many as 30 minutes for the execution of this task. But Kalman and the team did not need that much and completed it in just 9 minutes! 

The last mission was the Science Task. In relation to the previous edition of the challenge, it was a task that underwent the most changes and, for its purpose, the team created a drill module for collecting soil samples and a drone for photographing a selected part of the Mars Yard. Before approaching the task, the rover team had to prepare a research hypothesis on the geological events occurring on the surface of the staged ‘Mars’ and a plan of a science mission aimed at its verification. In the following step, Kalman carried out some field work. 

The AGH University team together with their rover, Kalman, defeated the total of 53 teams that applied to participate (only some of them qualified for the final) from i.a. Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Great Britain, Turkey, and Bangladesh. The following positions in the on-site formula were taken by the Swiss teams: FHNW Rover Team and EPFL Xplore. In the remote formula, the podium belonged to: Makercie from the Netherlands, DJS Antariksh from India, and Project Red from Italy. 

Another success for AGH Space Systems this year! In their account, they already have the first place in the International Rover Challenge 2023 in India, the first place in the Canadian International Rover Challenge 2023, and the 7th place (first among European countries) in the University Rover Challenge in the USA. 

The European Rover Challenge is an annual international competition of Martian rovers that has been taking place since 2014. As part of the prestigious Rover Challenge series, it reveals the best projects of planetary rovers in the world. This year’s edition was organised on 15–17 September 2023 at Kielce University of Technology in two formulas: 20 teams competed on-site and 15 connected remotely. The track was inspired by a fragment of the Martian landscape, and the teams had to face challenges posed to engineers during actual Martian missions. The Mars Yard in Kielce is one of the most challenging terrains of this type in the world.