European Rover challenge 3rd place winner DJ’S Antariksh from India

The winner of the sixth edition of the international European Rover Challenge (ERC) competition is the German team ERIG e.V. Hot on their heels were members of RoverOva from the Czech Republic, who ended up second. The third place was granted to both DJs Antariksh from India and Columbian Robocop. It is the first time in the history of ERC where two teams tied for a place on the podium.

DJS ANTARIKSH TEAM DJS ANTARIKSH MILESTONES
●We have secured the Overall 3rd Position globally.
●Won the Best Science Planning award among all teams in ERC 2020
●First-ever Asian and Indian team to have made it in the Top 3 teams in the history of European Rover Challenge (ERC 2020)
DJs Antariksh is the official rover challenge team of Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai, India. It was founded in January 2020 and ERC 2020 is the first-ever competition in which the team participated. It has student members from diverse streams belonging to the Second, Third, and Final Year of engineering. It focuses primarily on Technology and Innovation. Determined to participate and win National and International rover challenges, the team has won its biggest International award and brought laurels to the college.

COMPETITION SUMMARY:
European Rover Challenge (ERC) is one of the best and prestigious Robotics competitions worldwide. It is the annual international Martian Rover competition attended by teams from around the world. The competition has been organized since 2014 in Poland and is held in the 2nd week of September annually. ERC 2020 was conducted from 11th – 13th September 2020. ERC 2020 was made virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the events were conducted remotely.

The event task was as follows:
● Science and Navigation task: The rover in Kielce University, Poland had to be controlled remotely. The rover had to reach 5 waypoints in the MarsYard (simulated Mars environment) and collect evidence for the science mission in a time limit of 40 minutes.
● Maintenance Task: The team had to control a 6-axis robotic arm and actuate a switch panel.
● Presentation Task: The team had to present the overall management approach during the pandemic.

The sixth edition of the ERC competition was held with a new, remote formula. Between the 11th and 13th of September 2020, 26 teams from 14 countries around the world participated in the tournament; remotely navigating the mobile robot on the biggest artificial Martian field in the world, located in Poland. They participated in two field tasks that included collecting samples from the MarsYard using opportunistic rover science methods as well as performing a sequence of operations at the target machine.
During ERC 2020 teams were using an innovative remote-robot management platform and mobile robots. Year by year the level of ERC participants is higher and higher. It makes us glad that teams put faith in the remote edition of ERC 2020 and showed great professionalism while preparing for the competition. In the process of collecting technical documentation, this year’s winner was awarded the Best Science Design Award for depth analysis and showing a truly interdisciplinary approach