UWRT Rover Robotic Arm Design

The University of Waterloo Mars Rover Team consists of a group of voluntary undergraduate and graduate students who enjoy working in the field of robotics and space exploration. The team designs different robots for a variety of competitions across North America [1]. The team participates in the University Rover Challenge (URC) and NASA Sample Return Rover Challenge (NSRRC) held every year in Hanksvile, Utaha. The goal is to create a wirelessly controlled rover with the capability of fine object manipulation which can be operated on Mars-like terrains. Figure 1 shows Queen's University Engineering team mars rover design [2]. The arm manipulator mounted on the rover should perform a variety of different tasks and successfully complete different missions including a sample return task and equipment service tasks.

Hence, the UW Mars Rover Team needed to design a tele-operated robot with a precise robotic arm manipulator to perform various tasks based on precision in a Martian environment. The proposed robotic manipulator combines mechanical moving parts with motors and software to control the motors. This design requires a thorough kinematics analysis of the robotic arm.

Sirui Song, a fourth year Mechatronics engineering student, was tasked to design a low-cost (under $2500), accurate and mobile manipulator capable of object detection and delicate manipulation that can easily mount on an autonomous mobile robot. URC guidelines from 2014 were used as constraints and Sirui worked on this design challenge with the support of other members in the Mar Rover Team.