Oakton students in NASA competition
Oakton Community College students are aiming for Mars while keeping their feet firmly planted on the ground.
The Des Plaines-based college is one of just 49 in the country - and one of only three community colleges - to participate in the Sixth Annual NASA Robotics Mining Competition, scheduled today through Friday at Florida's John F. Kennedy Space Center.
The contest requires undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities to design and build a remote-controlled robot capable of navigating a simulated Martian terrain, excavate Martian volcanic rock fragments (regolith), and deposit at least 10 kilograms of the material into a collector bin within 10 minutes.
Members of Oakton's team include: Raphael Codrean of Lincolnwood; Azher Ghandi of Skokie; William Kann of Park Ridge; Karolina Klimont of Des Plaines; Mahavish Mahmood of Norridge; Marcus Petre of Glenview; Inamullah Sharif of Skokie; Mohankumarvarma Vegesna of Niles: and Nagasuryarama Vegesna of Niles.
The squad comprises students enrolled in an engineering independent study course taught by Angelo Gero, an electronics and computer technology lecturer at the college.
He serves as the group's adviser.
The trip to the Kennedy Space Center is the culmination of more than nine months of work. Oakton's robot - Metal Fury - was built with money from grants from the Oakton Educational Foundation and from NASA, totaling more than $9,000.
Five students - Codrean, Ghandi, Klimont, Sharif and Vegesna - were on last year's team, which also went to the space center and placed 12th.
Returning team members strategized on ways to improve upon the previous entry.
Their robot is made of aluminum and consists of four motors and multiple electronic components, including sensors.
It's self-driven, and was built to maneuver through NASA's obstacle course without having to be controlled remotely unlike previous versions.
"We're confident about Metal Fury and we like its chances in this year's competition because we concentrated on making it so autonomous," said Ghandi, the team captain.
"Having so many returning students is a big plus. Most teams that are successful in this competition have a lot of experience working together."