Monash Nova Rover take on the 2022 Australian Rover Challenge
The future of the burgeoning Australian space industry shone a little brighter this weekend with student team Monash Nova Rover participating in the 2022 Australian Rover Challenge at the University of Adelaide.
This year the challenge hosted five contenders, with teams from the University of Adelaide, University of Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney and University of Queensland joining Monash at the event. Monash Nova Rover won the event overall with the University of Melbourne finishing runner-up.
The challenge tasked the students to build and operate a semi-autonomous rover in a simulated lunar environment. The teams competed across navigation, resource utilisation, and construction tasks and presented their rover designs to industry professionals, academia and the Australian Rover Challenge judges.
This was the first opportunity for Monash Nova Rover to give their new rover, nicknamed ‘Platypus’ a run before taking on the prestigious and highly-competitive University Rover Challenge in June, an international event in which the team finished in the global top 10 in 2019 prior to the disruptions caused by the global pandemic.
Monash Nova Rover participated in all four competition tasks, placing first in Post Landing, Lunar Construction and Semi-Autonomous and second in Lunar Resources. Notably, the Semi-Autonomous task saw the team showcase their most robust autonomous package yet, with their performance reflecting their hard work in a notoriously difficult task where most teams scored 0. The rover’s autonomous system development was spearheaded by Liam Whittle who was also awarded the team’s Most Valuable Member.
“The team was thrilled to be a part of the Australian Rover Challenge for a second year and is very proud of what was achieved both on and off the field after a full year of preparation,” said Monash Nova Rover team lead Ben Jessett. “We learnt a great deal about our new designs and competitive approach, which we will take away and work on in preparation for our future events. It was inspiring to see how the challenge has grown since its inception in 2021 and we enjoyed the opportunity to meet new teams and old friends from the Australian rover community. Congratulations to all teams and thanks to the volunteers from industry and academia for putting on such a slick and exciting event. We are all looking forward to another sensational ARC in 2023.”
Faculty of Engineering Director of Student Teams Dr Scott Wordley said, “Congratulations to the Monash Nova Rover team for their excellent performance at the Australian Rover Challenge. We are very proud of their achievements and have been impressed by their continued growth and success. Thank you to the Australian Rover Challenge organisers, partners and judges who made this year’s event possible.”
For more information about Monash Nova Rover, visit their Facebook page.
For more information about the Monash Student Teams Initiative, visit our website page
Check out the team’s Platypus rover:
