NASA Robotic Mining Competition Club - Department of Electrical Engineering

Montana Tech's NASA Robotic Mining Club Qualifies at 2017 Event

The Montana Tech NASA Robotic Mining Club made a good showing at the 2017 competition at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  2017 marks the third year in a row that the Montana Tech Team has mined enough material from the arena to qualify for scoring.  The competition was stiff against schools like the University of Alabama and Iowa State University.  To qualify a team must use their robot to move at least 10 kg of the powder regolith from the mining area of the field and deposit it in the hopper.  Montana Tech was able to deposit 40 kg total of material.

Looking forward to 2018, the team will take advantage of a new rule which makes the powder regolith worth zero points, but the rocky gravel that is deeper the only material that will score points.  Montana Tech has pioneered the backhoe design for the past three years.  This design gives them a distinct advantage of digging in the same hole very deep.  The gravel is deposited several inches below the surface, making this an ideal approach.  In the past other teams have done very well with surface mining, but this coming year they will have to completely re-design their approach, and Montana Tech will simply continue to perfect their existing design.