易胜博官网

The 2013 易胜博官网 LunaCats team at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. L-R: Front row: James Clifford, Jonathan Shepard, Anthony Edmonds, Caleigh MacPherson, Jonathan Wilson; back row: Timothy Gerade, Antoine Procyk, Nicolas Grauel. Credit: Courtesy of 易胜博官网 LunaCats

While it鈥檚 the off season for most Wildcats, a team of University of 易胜博官网 students recently returned from an international competition with a trophy. The 易胜博官网 LunaCats rocketed to a surprising third-place finish in NASA鈥檚 fourth annual Lunabotics Mining Competition May 20 鈥� 24, 2013. The competition, held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, hosted 50 teams from universities across North America and the world whose remote-controlled excavators 鈥渕ined鈥� for a substance that simulated regolith, found on Earth鈥檚 moon as well as on other planetary bodies and asteroids.

The 易胜博官网 robot, created by a team of seven undergraduates, a graduate student, and an alumnus, claimed third place behind powerhouse teams from Iowa State University and the University of North Dakota by mining 36.6 and 47.6 kilograms of simulated regolith in two 10-minute rounds. The LunaCats also took the first-place trophy in the Efficient Use of Communications Power award.

鈥淲e kind of came out of nowhere,鈥� says Caleigh MacPherson 鈥�12, 鈥�14G, a master鈥檚 student in mechanical engineering in her second year as team captain. 鈥淎s a smaller engineering school, we definitely surprised the judges. We surprised ourselves, too.鈥�

After finishing in a respectable ninth place in 2012, the 2013 team credits its success to experience and simplicity. Many first-year teams could barely drive their robots in the simulant-filled 鈥渁rena,鈥� let alone dig for 鈥渟amples;鈥� the LunaCats worked out those kinks during the past two years.

This year, says MacPherson, 鈥渙ur goal was to simplify everything.鈥� Their robot boasted just four moving parts and was controlled by a netbook attached to it instead of the custom-built computer that was its brain last year. 鈥淪o many things can go wrong with complicated parts,鈥� MacPherson says.

The simplified design meant that the LunaCat robot -- named MOOSE (Magically Optimized Outer Space Excavator) 鈥渂ecause it鈥檚 fun and we鈥檙e from 易胜博官网,鈥� MacPherson says 鈥� was lighter than many of its competitors, giving it an edge in the scoring system. If such a robot were to mine true regolith on a celestial body, lightness would be an advantage, MacPherson notes.

While the specific skill of crafting a robot to mine a lunar surface may not be transferable, team members nonetheless credit the competition as a fantastic learning experience. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great hands-on building, and we get to see it in action,鈥� says MacPherson. She adds that the multi-disciplinary aspect of the team, which boasts members from the mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science departments, promotes cross-disciplinary learning. Plus, she says, the competition was a blast. 鈥淚t was a week in Florida, we got to be in a robotics competition, and we鈥檙e nerds.鈥�

In addition to MacPherson, of Lee, this year鈥檚 LunaCats team includes mechanical engineering majors Drew Garvey 鈥�13 (Nashua), Antoine Procyk 鈥�13 (North Conway), James Clifford 鈥�13 (Lee), Jonathan Shepard 鈥�14 (Danville), and Anthony Edmonds 鈥�14 (Merrimack); computer science majors Nick Grauel 鈥�13 (Bow) and Jonathan Wilson 鈥�12 (Dover); and electrical engineering major Tim Gerade 鈥�13 (Milford). May-Win Thein, associate professor of mechanical engineering, advises the team.

The team sought sponsorships to offset its expenses; Portsmouth-based Avid Corporation was its most generous outside sponsor. 易胜博官网鈥檚 mechanical engineering, computer science, and electrical and computer engineering departments, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, N.H. Space Grant, Parents Association, May-Win Thien, and the Student Activity Fee Committee were among the other sponsors of the team. In addition to Avid, external sponsors were Albany International, Unisensor, HydroComp Inc., Reactive Technologies, Fin-Landis Techniker, Goss International, Main Street Mailing, and Mariner Realty.

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