ISRO Space Challenge: URSC Invites Ideas, Designs of Robotic Rovers

Students are encouraged to submit concepts and designs for robotic rovers for ISRO’s upcoming missions. The “ISRO Robotics Challenge, URSC-2024” will be held by the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) to give students opportunities in the field of space robotics. Students have until November 20 to December 15 to turn in a proposal and the registration form.

ISRO announced that it is preparing for upcoming robotic exploration missions to the moon and other celestial bodies following the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 Vikram on the lunar surface and the exploration near the moon’s southern pole.

The national space agency, which has its headquarters here, stated that it is dedicated to providing industry and academia with special chances to engage in technology development initiatives that align with organizational goals.

The challenge is an engineering project wherein the institutional teams construct robots to compete in an arena inspired by extraterrestrials, carrying out tasks that are derived from the difficulties that space robotics faces in the real world.

This is a call to action for the student body to participate in the design and development of a “Wheeled/Legged Rover,” which will involve the creation of all necessary hardware and software. According to an ISRO statement, “there is a higher likelihood that the solutions developed by the students in IRoC-U 2024 will be included in ISRO’s future interplanetary robotics missions.”

The objectives of the challenge are:

– To provide a standardised platform for exploring the area of space robotics

– To develop a deeper understanding of space robotics and its applications among the student community

– To co-develop (students and ISRO) future technologies needed in the area of space robotics.

The final onsite competition to perform the required tasks is planned to be conducted on URSC Bengaluru campus in August 2024.