Victoria’s Lead Scientist Dr Amanda Caples visits the Nova Rover team

Victoria’s Lead Scientist Dr Amanda Caples visited the Nova Rover team at Monash University this week to find out all about their participation in the 2018 University Rover Challenge.  An international competition to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers, the team are the first from an Australian university to compete in the prestigious student challenge held in Utah on 31 May.

Dr Caples met with the team’s leadership group along with Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor David Copolov AO and Head of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Chris Davies.  The team shared the full story of how they first came together following their successful win in the 2016 Warman Design and Build Competition, before taking Dr Caples on a tour of the team’s workspace.

After hearing about the University Rover Challenge during a trip to the US, Project Lead Ben Steer (Mechatronics Engineering, Computational Science and Mathematics) suggested to his housemate Operations Lead Tom Shiel (Medicine), both self-described ‘space nerds’, that they give the competition a shot, Dr Caples heard. Quickly getting the Warman competition team back together, they began building the first iteration of the rover in their garage, a workspace they affectionately dubbed ‘Murrumbeena Robotics’.  Science Lead Daniel Ricardo (Science – Geosciences & Biochemistry) was thrilled to spot the team’s advertised opportunity to participate in a Mars science challenge, and joined up shortly after. Fast forward to a year later, and the 16-strong multidisciplinary Nova Rover team is now ready to take on the world.

Dr Caples enjoyed a sneak peak of the Nova Rover in the team’s busy workshop space, and was shown the rover’s components, systems and capabilities. “It was great to learn how the Nova Rover team has come together to build a cross-disciplinary team and a creative 'can-do' culture,” Dr Caples said.

Following the visit, Systems Integration Officer Joel Kuperholz (Mechatronics Engineering, Commerce) said, “This was a fascinating encounter; sometimes you learn more from the insightful questions an expert asks than from answers.  As aspiring undergraduates building an autonomous Mars rover it was a really warm and motivating experience for Victoria’s Lead Scientist Dr Caples to sit down with us and then come to our workshop to see our custom designed scientific analysis modules including hollow-stem augers and spectrometers.”

Dr Caples also heard about the vital support of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, who quickly mobilised to provide them with the workshop space and seed funding.  The supportive and collaborative space, located alongside other engineering student team projects, has allowed for unique ideas and fruitful collaborations to emerge.

“After founding Nova Rover in a student garage, we turned to department head Professor Chris Davies for support, “ said Kuperholz. “As we excitedly told Chris of our goals, budgets and designs, he stood up and walked us over to our official workspace and provided us generous practical support and funding - Nova Rover was off and running straight away.  Chris has provided ongoing support and encouragement leading us to Team Monash and getting us into the Elite Athlete and Performer Program - ensuring we can participate in Utah at the international competition and not let exams get in the way.”

“It’s fantastic to see a student team make the final of an international competition in such a short timeframe, and great to see them recognised in this way by Dr Caples,” said Professor Davies. “We’re all proud to have supported them in their endeavour and will be following their progress at the competition closely.”

Once again, good luck and all the best to the Nova Rover team!  Keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates during the competition.  For more information about the event, check out the University Rover Challenge webpage.