Thayne Covert '23: Talent Competency

How NASA Lunabotics Develops Future Engineers

 The National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program (GCSP) is a curricular, cocurricular, and extracurricular program that aims to give students context for their time in university while being shaped into well rounded people who are prepared to address challenges facing society in the 21st century. These grand challenges include issues such as sustainability, health, security, and education. As a participant in GCSP, I must complete 5 “competencies” surrounding a chosen challenge, focusing on different aspects of personal and professional development. I have selected "Engineering the Tools for Scientific Discovery" as my specific challenge, and my senior capstone project (as well as previous team experience) with the University of Portland Robotics Team (UPR) to compete in the NASA Lunabotics Competition is an excellent example of how I am fulfilling the “Talent” competency of GCSP, which focuses on a project experience to enhance technical competence.

 The NASA Lunabotics Competition is a highly competitive interdisciplinary event that requires students to design, build, and operate a robotic mining system in a simulated lunar environment to extract and transport a material known as icy regolith. The project involves various engineering disciplines, including mechanical, electrical, and computer science, and it presents an excellent opportunity for students to work in a collaborative environment to get hands-on experience and directly apply their theoretical knowledge to a large-scale engineering project.

 NASA Lunabotics

Beginning in 2010, the Lunabotics competition has taught students NASA’s process of system engineering and its principles to build a prepared workforce for the space industry. As a member of the team since my freshman year and acting as president for the team for the past two years, I have been deeply involved with this team throughout my time at UP. This year’s challenge was similar to previous years, with the goal to develop a robot capable of driving in a lunar environment, mining lunar regolith, and collecting and delivering a granular material sample to a specified deposition hopper. In addition to the actual mining competition, teams must submit technical reports of its progression, system reviews, as well as conduct STEM outreach to the local community (The STEM outreach portion is discussed in my GCSP essay focusing on the social consciousness competency). The competition was created by NASA and they believe that proposing lunar robotics challenges increases students’ abilities to solve complex engineering problems likely to be faced in the future by humanity as a part of NASA’s Artemis program. This program is currently underway with the end goal to return astronauts to the lunar surface, and to one day reach Mars.

 Robotics System

To solve the complex problem given by NASA, my team built a robot inspired by NASA rovers such as Curiosity and Perseverance. A photo of this robot during 2021-22 competition at Kennedy Space Center in Florida can be seen in Figure 1. To successfully construct this robot and ensure reliable operation, the development of the robot was divided into three main subsections to split up work amongst the various team members. These subsections are the driving system to maneuver around the simulated lunar environment, the digging system to excavate and collect the icy regolith, and the dumping system to both store the regolith during transit and elevate the stored material to a specified collection hopper. Within this breakdown, the driving system can further be separated into three additional sections: the rocker-bogie suspension system to maintain even contact with the ground between all six wheels on uneven terrain, the articulation joints to control the angle of individual wheels to steer the robot, and the wheel assembly to drive the robot across the lunar surface. These components are all operated by the control system which includes the electrical engineering and computer science aspects of the robot. The control system runs a modified version of the Linux operating system on a Raspberry Pi computer and uses a collection of libraries called the Robot Operating System (ROS) to make the code more standardized. All of these subsections work together in unison creating a robust system to fulfill the mission requirements.

My Involvement

As a mechanical engineering student, my involvement with the team has obviously focused more on the physical aspects of the robot, but this was never a limit as UPR has evolved over time. Beginning as a freshman having just entered the Shiley School of Engineering, I was eager to get involved with clubs to apply what I learned in class to a real-world setting. The robotics team was the perfect fit, and I was able to learn the ropes and soak in as much information as possible from experienced members of the team (one of these mentors was a fellow GCSP member; Sam Pasman).  Moving on to my sophomore year, I was elected secretary of the team and I was able to deepen many of the connections I had with all the older members. I was a bit more separate from the team during this year because I studied abroad during the Spring semester, and while overseas the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Everything changed, and with classes moving online I took a year off from school to gain work experience. The switch to online learning combined with the graduation of a large group of seniors created a large break in continuity within the team, however these circumstances created a highly unique opportunity upon my return in the Fall of 2021.

 With this break in continuity, I took over as president of the team and I was able to take charge of rebuilding the team following the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time I was the only one with deep knowledge of the team, and only two other people had any experience with the team before the pandemic. Taking the leadership position, I managed the team through recruiting new members, training the new members, and meeting NASA’s deadlines to create a foundation moving forward. I leveraged my previous experience with the team to successfully bring the team to the first in-person competition since the spring of 2018. Moving on to this competition season, I again led the team but now a co-president joined me along with people newly recruited into the team. We have successfully worked together making a lot of progress, and we are currently on track to compete at the University of Alabama in a little less than a month.

 Reflection

I have seen the robotics team at UP change a lot during my time here, and I have only been able to achieve recent successes based on the experience gained during my time with robotics. One of the biggest changes I had to make during my time with robotics was transitioning from physically building the robot to being a leader. When constructing the robot, my primary focus was on me and the robot. However, as I progressed in my development as a leader, I found myself having to step back from the physical construction and instead delegate tasks to others.

 Throughout this process, I have been able to develop a range of skills that will benefit me the rest of my life. On the technical side, I learned skills such as welding, operating milling machines, and general methods of metal fabrication. Getting into the metal shop to fabricate parts was a great opportunity for me to learn hands-on skills that will be very applicable to any job I have later in my career. Beyond technical skills, I also learned a lot of administrative and soft skills. Grant writing, large-scale project scheduling, and general leadership skills are all areas in which I have grown immensely thanks to my involvement with robotics. This shift in mindset was challenging, but ultimately rewarding, as it allowed me to take a step back and further develop my administrative skills, and I feel confident that I am well-equipped to tackle the challenges that await me in the future.

 Relating to GCSP

GCSP has helped me be a more well-rounded individual, and as a result, I was able to use the skills I learned both directly and indirectly to lead UPR to success, building strong relationships with my team members, mentors, and other stakeholders in the UP community. My experience with the UPR has also been an incredibly asset in job interviews. I am now much more prepared than I was, and I can now talk endlessly about the skills I developed with confidence.

 Looking at my specific challenge within GCSP, the Lunabotics competition perfectly fits the goal of "engineering tools for scientific discovery." Building a robot that can mine lunar soil as NASA tries to build a sustainable human presence on the moon exactly matches the goal of my challenge pushing the forefront of discovery. It taps directly into the curiosity about the world that drives me, and it makes me want to learn more. It represents a tangible example of how engineering can be used to facilitate scientific discovery, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been a part of UPR.

 Conclusion

In conclusion, my time with the University of Portland Robotics Team has been an incredible learning experience that has helped me grow both personally and professionally. Through my involvement with GCSP I have been able to view my time with UPR in a new way and leverage the skills I developed to achieve success. I look forward to using the knowledge and experience I have gained to tackle the challenges that await me in my future career.