EDT has set up a group driven project to compete in NASA’s Annual Lunar Robotics Mining competition. In this pursuit students will create a tangible result in where they can use their work and experience from this project to aid in their professional pursuits part of their portfolio. To further contribute to the STEM field, and bring prestige and exposure to the University.
The goal of this project, aside from the competition, is for students to differentiate themselves. When members are finished they can add this project to their resume/portfolio and point to direct and applicable areas where they contributed. The project goal is to allow students to explore and implement their knowledge in their areas of interest, to give members exposure, experience and proof of their capability to create tangible results.
EDT is excited to be competing in this project features applied robotics, the competition is fun and highly competitive. It is interdisciplinary and allows a wide range of people to apply their knowledge. UIC has multiple robot teams that compete. However, none that features mining, which is unfortunate because moving material is a core engineering problem. Other competitions which EDT has participated in the past don’t have this focus where a team can score higher for outreach, social media and a worldwide campaign. This focus is important because STEM projects are often insolated, these efforts would help bring STEM into the more into the public eye.