The 20-member team of AGH Space Systems breezed past the competition in the Indian Rover Challenge (IRC) 2020 on Monday.
The IRC is an event designed to build the next generation Mars Rover hosted by VIT Chennai. A total of 16 teams from different countries participated in the four-day event held from January 17 to 20.
The team from AGH University of Science and Technology in Poland with its four-wheeled aluminium-body rover outsmarted the other runners in the race in various challenges, including arm control mechanism, collection of soil samples, and autonomous traversing in rugged terrain. The team had already secured the second place in the European Rover Challenge, and IRC, last year.
Maciek Kotecki, a member of the AGH Space Systems, said the rover took more than three years to be built costing more than ₹10 lakhs. He said the team comprising students of automatics and robotics had a challenging task in producing the rover, weighing less than 50 kg. They had a rigorous testing process for performing different jobs to make it a model that could survive any rugged terrain.
The second prize was secured by a rover team from the University of Warsaw and the third prize went to Team Rudra of the SRM University. The Technocrats team of VIT Chennai was adjudged the best emerging rover model.
R. Senthil Kumar, Senior General Manager Production Division, Hyundai, gave away the prizes. V.S. Kanchana Bhaaskaran, Pro Vice-Chancellor, VIT Chennai, also participated.