Mechanical engineering seniors Jourdan Beaumont, Bradley Boyett, Taryn Greene, Robert Northup, Shawn Roades, Jacob Sparkman, Ryan Whitmore and Katie Zoladz placed fourth out of 46 college teams competing in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville this spring. The competition focused on NASA’s plans to explore planets, moons, asteroids and comets, with teams instructed to design, construct and test technologies for mobility devices to perform in these different environments. Each team’s vehicle had to be capable of overcoming large obstacles and able to fit inside a 5’x 5’x 5’ cube, in addition to being operated by two drivers – one male, one female. A competition rule change eliminated the use of pneumatic tires, which the Auburn team overcame by using solid rubber tires. The students spent much of the spring semester in the Wiggins Mechanical Engineering Hall machine shops building parts for their rover, which consists almost entirely of steel tubing with aluminum components and carbon fiber seats of their own creation. Commercial biking parts were used for the rover’s drivetrains such as pedals, chains, sprockets and brakes.
Recent Posts
- Aerospace: Improving flight stability through collaborative research
- Biosystems: Researchers reimagine controlled environment agriculture
- Chemical: Biomedical research is making a difference in patient outcomes
- Civil and Environmental: Exploring subsurface hydrogen storage to reduce CO₂ emissions
- Computer Science and Software: Research aims to address software security weaknesses
AUBURN ENGINEERING NEWS
- National cyber director part of special livestreamed event hosted Wednesday by McCrary Institute May 17, 2024White House National Cyber Director Harry Coker Jr., will discuss the National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan on a special livestreamed event Wednesday, May 22, 9:30 a.m. CDT, presented by Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.
- #GINNing Podcast: Materials Girl May 17, 2024Marissa Kelley just graduated with a degree in materials engineering — and a degree in music performance. She knows who Madonna is — and who Tom Petty is. In other words, she's basically a genius. (You're welcome, Florida.)
- Professor in electrical and computer engineering presented with Outstanding Leadership Award at Health 2.0 Conference May 15, 2024Gopikrishna Deshpande, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was presented with the Outstanding Leadership Award for extraordinary achievements in healthcare and wellness at the Health 2.0 Conference March 18-20 in Las Vegas.