IRC Indian Rover Challenge Mars Society South Asia
IRC Indian Rover Challenge Mars Society South Asia
What is the Indian rover challenge (IRC)?
Table of Contents
The Indian Rover Challenge (IRC) is an annual rover competition. where engineering students from all across the world enroll in the next phase of space exploration. IRC is the first and only space competition of Asia-Pacific which aims to encourage and inspires the student for innovation In this competition, Enrolled participants have to build a Space rover using their skills and ideas. Indian Rover Challenge is a part of the Rover Challenge Series (RCS) of The Mars Society.
Competition Tasks:-
The Preliminary Qualification round for the IRC is the System Acceptance Review (SAR). The Teams have to submit a report and a video of the rover while presenting their capabilities. Final teams will be decided based on their SAR Merits. The final round consists of 4 different tasks, namely Extreme Retrieval and Delivery, Equipment Servicing, Autonomous, and Science Cache. These tasks have been designed and improvised every year to push Rovers to their limits and test their advanced capabilities.
The Top 3 Teams in the Indian Rover Challenge received a cash prize worth 100,000 INR.
Following task to be performed:-
Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Task:-
This is the first task to be performed. Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Task is the most physical challenge for the rover. As the mar’s surface contains rocks, steep slopes, obstacles, sandy areas, etc So, the rover must have to travel on this. Here, the Same environment will be created by the organizer to perform the task. The Rover has to locate and pick up certain tools from a random location on the field and deliver it to a specific location to assist astronauts.
Equipment Servicing Task:-
This is the second task to be performed after completing ERDT, In the Equipment Servicing Task, rovers are required to perform operations on an equipment control panel for maintenance operations. Some of the operations include tightening screws, turning knobs, typing on keyboards, operating a joystick, etc. The objective is to observe the rover’s ability to perform operations for assistance.
Autonomous Task:-
This is the third task to be performed after completing the equipment servicing task. In this task, rovers have to travel autonomously on the field through designated gates with marked directions on the field. There is no teleoperation between the rover and the operator, and the rover must operate as a standalone system. The ability of the on-board system to make locomotive decisions based on available data is greatly tested.
Science Cache task:-
This is the fourth task to be performed after completing the Autonomous task. The primary goal of the Science Cache Task is to conduct an in-situ analysis of soil samples on the rover to determine the possible existence of life on Mars. Rovers are required to dig and collect soil from designated areas, obtain a microscopic view of rock samples, collect panoramic images of surroundings in this mission. The rover also conducts tests to check the presence of life-supporting gases.
IRC Indian Rover Challenge Mars Society South Asia
