Back at JSC

Hello, Rover Hawk supporters. Some of us from UMass Lowell are back in Houston at JSC, but not to compete. Instead, we're learning how to use an awesome new robot, Valkyrie, that will be housed at the NERVE Center.

NASA is still putting the units through their paces; in the photos above, the robot does not have its forearms and hands attached. NASA is going to deliver Valkyrie to the NERVE Center in February. We're working with Profs. Taskin Padir and Rob Platt at Northeastern to help NASA develop the robots for NASA's Space Robotics Challenge. There are only four of these robots in the world; one will be at JSC, one at MIT, one at the University of Edinburgh, and one at UML.

Today, our first day here, we were taken on tours of JSC's robotics facilities, ISS Mission Control, and Apollo Mission Control. Carlos Ibarra-Lopez, who drove the RoverHawk during the competition in 2013, is here at JSC for the training and had a chance to reenact a photo we took of Jim Dalphond during our Apollo Mission Control tour in 2013 (which was also put next to a photo of Carlos from NERVE Mission Control).

Jordan Allspaw is also here at JSC for the two week Valkyrie training. Here he's trying out NASA's SAFER jet pack, although only on the ground.

Spidernaut, Spideranut....

Robot Park at sunset, as we exited NASA JSC:

If you'd like to see Valkyrie in person, please put the next NERVE open house on your calendar: Monday, 4 April 2016 from 6-8pm.

Rover Hawks on Fox 25 Boston

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Rover Hawks Press

A few articles have been posted about the Rover Hawks' participation and win in this year's NASA RASC-AL Robo-Ops Competition. You can find their links below:

Nashua Telegraph: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/1007561-469/are-there-any-college-kids-who-arent.html

Tewksbury Town Crier: http://homenewshere.com/tewksbury_town_crier/news/article_94c2e288-cf16-11e2-a82b-0019bb2963f4.html

Lowell Sun: http://www.lowellsun.com/blogs/ci_23433386/umass-lowell-team-wins-nasa-competition-build-mars (with video, embedded below)

Thank you

Hello, everyone.  It's been an incredible week for the Rover Hawks.  We'd like to thank all of you for following our team's progress on our blog and on Facebook.

Thank you to all of our sponsors: NASA, the National Institute of Aerospace, Harvest Automation, Scanning Devices, Ideas Inc., and SolidWorks.

The competition at JSC was very well run.  Many thanks to Stacy Dees, Shelley Spears, and Kelsey Glomb of NIA for organizing the competition and to the RASC-AL Robo-Ops Steering Committee: Pat Troutman, NASA Langley Research Center; Doug Stanley, National Institute of Aerospace; Lyndon Bridgwater, NASA Johnson Space Center; Sharon Jefferies, NASA Langley Research Center; Lucien Junkin, NASA Johnson Space Center; Lane Honeycutt, NASA Johnson Space Center; and Raymond Guo, General Motors (NASA JSC).  Additionally, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of the NASA JSC employees who gave us amazing tours of the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, Mission Control, and the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility. 

Finally, thanks to everyone at UMass Lowell and the NERVE Center for supporting and promoting our entry into this year's RASC-AL Robo-Ops Competition.  It truly was a team effort, and we appreciate all of your help.

Go Rover Hawks!

Photos from the past week

If you'd like to see photos from the past week, we have two photo sets on Flickr.

The first is a small set of photos of our team, both at the JSC Rock Yard and NERVE.

The second has many more photos from the week, including our tours and other teams.

Close up of the plaque

We won!!!!!