They may not have gone to space, but a team from Owensboro Community & Technical College showed they have some of the best skills in the nation when it comes to building a human-powered rover designed to traverse lunar and other-worldly terrain. The OCTC team took second place this weekend in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC).
According to NASA’s event website, the competition “will encourage research and development of new technologies for future mission planning and crewed space missions to other worlds.”
The primary objective of HERC is for teams of students to design, develop, build, and test rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain and a task tool for completion of various mission tasks.
Teams earn points by successful completion of design reviews, designing and assembling a rover that meets all challenge criteria, and successfully completing course obstacles and mission tasks. The course and obstacles are built to mimic lunar objects and surfaces, and the tasks are related to things astronauts would collect in the field. The team’s tools must collect multiple samples without causing any cross-contamination. The overall competition score includes not only the action on the course but reports and presentations completed by the team over the last several months.
The team with the highest number of points accumulated throughout the project year is named the winner.
In addition to earning second place overall this year, the OCTC team earned the Task Challenge Award. The University of Alabama – Huntsville earned 1st place and Ohio Northern University placed 3rd.
The OCTC team got off to a fast start on day one and got through the course in 7:43, with the rover driven by the pilot team of Virginia Neighbors and Timmy Dorris. After the first round, OCTC was in second place with 116 points.
Day two’s competition saw a revised strategy for OCTC, which swapped some obstacles for some tasks hoping to decrease time and increase points scored. The strategy paid off and they finished the course in 7:04, also completing two additional tasks to score 125 points.
“This marks OCTC’s personal best at the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge,” said OCTC’s Shawn Payne, a member of the rover support team. “We hope seeing our success encourages other community and technical colleges to consider participating. The entire team would like to thank NASA Kentucky, Be Real Sports Cycling & Fitness, and Owensboro Community & Technical College for allowing these opportunities.”
In 2017, as the only community college competing in the event, OCTC earned 27th place. Weather cut the 2018 competition short by a day, but OCTC jumped all the way to 9th that year. In 2019, OCTC sent two teams that earned 4th- and 9th-place honors. NASA hosted remote activities from 2020-2022 during COVID.
The 2023 Rover Team includes Max Humphreys, Gretchen Lents, Virginia Neighbors, and Timmy Dorris. The support team includes Shawn Payne, Mary Kinney, Danny Moseley, and Randy Crowe. Dr. Meredith Skaggs did not make the trip but worked with the students all semester. The Rover Team is a collaborative project with Computerized Manufacturing and Machining, and Welding, which plays major roles with their faculty expertise.
You may view a replay of the event on the OCTC Rover Facebook page.
