Montana Tech Robotic Mining Club Competition

The Montana Tech NASA Robotic Mining Club competes annually at the NASA Robotic Mining competition at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  The goal of our team is to design, build and compete against other universities.  The goal of the competition is to move as much simulated Martian surface material from one end of the course to the other using the robot designed.  Students in our club do the bulk of the work.  Currently we are redesigning the robot to be lighter, autonomous, and able to dig deeper. 

We need to buy materials to improve our current design.  This includes stock aluminum pieces, geared motors, linear actuators, laser range finders, conveyor belts, motor controllers, and other hardware.

Our robot was very close to the weight limit last year, and we intend to lose weight.

Though we mined well, our dumping system was not able to evacuate everything it mined.  We are currently designing these improvements.

Approximately 30 students participate and 10 students make the trip in May to Florida.

Students include everyone from Freshman through graduate school.

We are hoping to raise $5000 to help us realize our improved design and excel at next year's competition.