Started in the year 2017, the International Rover Challenge (formerly Indian Rover Challenge) held its first edition in January of the following year. Over the years, IRC has established itself as one of the leading space robotics competitions.
In IRC 2024, there will be an increased emphasis on creating awareness about the best practices and methods of systems engineering. The main focus is to highlight the benefits of an approach covering the whole project life cycle of developing a Mars Rover.
The IRC is a space robotics engineering competition, challenging university students to conceptualize, build, and operate an astronaut-assistive next-generation planetary Rover to perform specialized tasks in Mars realistic circumstances. The purpose is to provide students with a real-world multidisciplinary engineering experience, integrating practical engineering skills with soft skills such as business strategy and project management.
The competition is split into two stages: Qualifiers (Online) and Finals (On-site). Points are awarded across various missions/sub-missions, with a total of 1000 points available both in the Qualifiers and the Finals. The top 25 teams from the Qualifiers are invited to participate in the on-site Finals.
All teams must announce their intent to participate and register within the specified period. The registration process includes submitting team information and applying for the International Rover Design Challenge (IRDC). The IRDC is not just a review stage but also a competition in itself, with separate awards and diplomas.
Teams are expected to submit a System Design and Development Review (SDDR) package focusing on technical and project managerial aspects of rover development. This includes organizational structure, resource management, project planning, initial budget, sponsorships, recruitment procedure, educational and public outreach, and technical elements like rover design and testing approach.
All teams undergo a review and down-selection during qualifiers. Only the top 26 teams passing each milestone will compete in on-site Finals. Details, including deadlines and submission requirements, will be posted on SPROS website and IRC website. Officials may respond to teams with follow-up questions at any milestone.
No down-selection for the International Space Drone Challenge. Teams in IRC Finals automatically qualify for the drone category. Out of 26 teams, 3 wildcard entries reserved for non-Asian teams. Wildcard applicants must showcase their rover in a live presentation to judges before November 20, 2023.
Maximum number of students per team for Finals is unrestricted.
The Finals consist of missions categorized as Expeditions, Operations, and Assessments. Expeditions like the Astrobiology Expedition (ABEx) involve mobile scientific laboratory tasks, Reconnaissance & Delivery Operation (RDO) focuses on item retrieval and delivery, while Autonomous Expedition (AutEx) tests the rover's autonomous navigation capabilities.
Instrument Deployment & Maintenance Operation (IDMO) involves precise maintenance tasks, and the assessment missions include Project Implementation & Management Assessment (PIMA) and Business Plan Presentation (BPP), focusing on project management and business strategy aspects.
Grand Awards: For the top three teams in the IRC.
World Rover League (WRL) Awards: Based on combined scores from multiple events.
Emerging Team of the Year: Recognizes significant improvement.
Excellence and Innovation: For creative ideas and exceptional performance in various challenges.
Teams are required to submit a System Design and Development Review (SDDR) package before November 20, 2023. The SDDR package will focus on both technical and project management aspects of the rover development and has written report and video components.
Project Management Aspects: Teams shall include the organizational structure of the team, resources management, project planning, a PERT chart showing the project timeline, initial budget, fundraising plans, sponsorships, team’s recruitment process, educational and public outreach.
Technical Aspects: Teams shall include the current state of the rover development and prototypes, overall system design, science strategy, and team’s prototype testing strategy.
The video component will be a 3-minute video showcasing salient features of rover design and its readiness. The top 26 teams will advance to the on-site finals based on their normalized score from IRDC and SDDR. All the teams qualified for the IRC Finals will have to confirm their participation by December 1, 2023. If a qualified team is unable to participate in the Finals due to a particular reason, then its spot will be transferred to the highest-ranked reserve team.
The IRC Finals are divided into three categories – Expeditions, Operations, and Assessments.
Expeditions:Missions investigatory in nature with both dynamic and static components. Teams present findings and results to judges after mission completion.
Operations:Missions with only dynamic components where the rover performs specific tasks in the field.
Assessments:Static missions like Project Implementation and Management Assessment (PIMA) and Business and Partnership Plan (BPP).
Teams have a maximum of 30 minutes to complete a field mission. If completed in less than 20 minutes, the team receives a 20% bonus.
If a rover doesn’t cross the starting line within the first 10 minutes, the mission is aborted.
Teams scoring more than 20% points in the first 20 minutes can utilize the entire 30-minute mission time; otherwise, they must stop after 20 minutes.
All penalties are additive; e.g., penalties of 10% and 20% result in a score of 70%. All missions are scored independently, and a score less than zero is not possible.
Teams get 10 minutes of setup time before the mission and 10 minutes after completing the mission to disassemble all equipment at the base station.
The rover configuration can change throughout the competition based on mission requirements. Teams can make modifications and repairs between missions.
The IRC 2024 Finals will be performed within a specially designed 20,000 square meter simulated landscape called Sproscape.
It will be the world’s largest arena of its kind. It will incorporate numerous topographical elements, such as craters, mounts, rocky gardens, rifts, quarry fines, etc.
On the outer edges of the Sprosphere, base stations and a rover testing area will also be present.
IN THIS MISSION, THE ROVER WILL FUNCTION AS A MOBILE SCIENCE LABORATORY TO COLLECT SAMPLES FROM DESIGNATED SITES AND PERFORM BASIC SCIENCE EVALUATION OF THESE SAMPLES USING A SUITE OF CAREFULLY DESIGNED TESTS AND EXPERIMENTS. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE THE SITES FOR THEIR CAPABILITIES TO SUPPORT MICROBIAL LIFE AND SEEK SIGNS OF EXTINCT OR EXTANT LIFE IN THOSE SITES.
THE ROVER MAY USE CAMERAS OR OTHER PASSIVE INSTRUMENTS TO INVESTIGATE THE DESIGNATED AREA AND COLLECT SAMPLES USING MECHANICAL METHODS. THE ROVER MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE LIFE-DETECTION CAPABILITY INSTRUMENT OR ASSAY OF THE TEAM’S CHOICE. SAMPLES MUST BE INVESTIGATED BY THE ROVER ON-SITE, AND AT LEAST ONE SAMPLE MUST BE BROUGHT BACK TO THE BASE STATION UNCONTAMINATED. THERE WILL BE NO LABORATORY ANALYSIS AT THE BASE STATION. ALL INSTRUMENTS/TESTS MUST BE ON-BOARD THE ROVER.
AFTER COMPLETING ROVING TIME, TEAMS WILL HAVE TO SUBMIT THEIR CONCLUSIONS (ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS) TO THE JUDGES, BASED ON THE ON-BOARD ANALYSIS. RESULTS OF ON-BOARD ROVER TESTS PERFORMED, INCLUDING DATA AND IMAGES. THIS SUBMISSION SHOULD BE IN A REPORT FORMAT.
ONE MONTH BEFORE THE IRC FINALS, QUALIFIED TEAMS WILL HAVE TO PRESENT THEIR SCIENCE PLAN TO THE JUDGES IN ONLINE MODE. THE PRESENTATION DATE AND FORMAT WILL BE INFORMED TO THE TEAMS IN NOVEMBER.
IN THIS MISSION, ROVERS SHALL BE REQUIRED TO CONDUCT RECONNAISSANCE OPERATION OVER TERRAIN NOT MORE THAN 500M AWAY FROM THE BASE STATION. THE ROVER WILL SEARCH, LOCATE, PICK UP, AND DELIVER OBJECTS TO SPECIFIC LOCATIONS (GPSS COORDINATES) AND/OR PICK UP AND STORE OBJECTS UNTIL THE MISSION’S END TO DELIVER THEM TO THE BASE STATION.
IN THIS STAGE, THE ROVER WILL HAVE A MAXIMUM OF 10 MINUTES TO RECONNAISSANCE THROUGH AN AREA TO SEARCH AND LOCATE VARIOUS OBJECTS AROUND THE COMPETITION SITE.
IN THIS STAGE, THE ROVER WILL HAVE 20 MINUTES TO PICK UP AND DELIVER THE OBJECTS TO DESIGNATED LOCATIONS.
DURING THIS MISSION, ROVERS SHALL BE REQUIRED TO TRAVERSE BETWEEN MARKERS ACROSS MODERATELY RUGGED TERRAIN AUTONOMOUSLY.
TEAMS MAY BE REQUIRED TO BEGIN ON THIS MISSION, POSSIBLY AS SOON AS 10 MINUTES AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE INSTRUMENT DEPLOYMENT AND MAINTENANCE MISSION, FROM THE SAME BASE STATION.
BEFORE BEGINNING THE MISSION, TEAMS MUST FORMALLY ANNOUNCE TO JUDGES THAT THEY ARE ENTERING INTO AUTONOMOUS MODE. IN AUTONOMOUS MODE, TEAM MEMBERS MAY MONITOR VIDEO AND TELEMETRY INFORMATION SENT FROM THE ROVER BUT MAY NOT TRANSMIT ANY COMMANDS. NO SCOUTING WILL BE ALLOWED BEFORE THE START OF THIS MISSION.
THE MISSION WILL CONSIST OF MULTIPLE ARROW SIGNS (ALL BLACK IN COLOR) OF SIZE 30 CM X 20 CM ELEVATED AT 10 - 50 CM OFF THE GROUND. THE ARROWS WILL BE PRINTED ON A WHITE BACKGROUND. THE ARROWHEADS POINT TO THE DIRECTION THE ROVER IS EXPECTED TO NAVIGATE, LEADING THE ROVER TO THE ENDPOINT, WHICH WILL BE MARKED BY AN ORANGE COLOR TRAFFIC CONE.
EACH ARROW SIGN WILL BE LOCATED INSIDE A CIRCLE OF A 2 M RADIUS ON THE GROUND. THE ROVER WILL HAVE TO STOP (PAUSE) INSIDE THE CIRCLE FOR A MINIMUM OF 10 SECONDS (ONCE IT DETECTS THE PARTICULAR ARROW SIGN) BEFORE NAVIGATING TO THE NEXT ARROW SIGN. AT LEAST HALF OF THE ROVER SHOULD BE INSIDE THE CIRCLE FOR 10 SECONDS BEFORE MOVING TO THE NEXT ARROW. IF THE ROVER HITS THE ARROW SIGNS, THERE WILL BE NO POINTS FOR THAT PARTICULAR ARROW DETECTION.
THIS MISSION WILL BE DIVIDED INTO TWO STAGES, INSTRUMENT DEPLOYMENT AND INSTRUMENT MAINTENANCE. THE ROVER IS EXPECTED TO TRAVERSE A SHORT DISTANCE TO OPERATE ON A MOCK-UP INSTRUMENT PANEL TO PERFORM A SET OF PRECISE MAINTENANCE AND DEPLOYMENT OPERATIONS. THE ROVER WILL HAVE TO USE ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS TO CARRY OUT THIS MISSION.
PICKING UP A CACHE AND TRAVERSING TO THE PANEL. THE CACHE WILL HAVE A HANDLE OF AT LEAST 10 CM IN LENGTH AND NOT MORE THAN 5 CM IN DIAMETER. THE CACHE WILL WEIGH LESS THAN 5 KG.
THE DEPLOYMENT LEG OF THIS MISSION WILL REQUIRE TEAMS TO RETRIEVE AND CARRY SAMPLE CACHE COMPONENTS FOR DEPLOYMENT IN PARTICULAR DESIGNATED LOCATIONS NEAR THE COLLECTION PANEL.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PIMA IS THE ASSESSMENT AND REVIEW OF THE PROJECT AND FINAL ROVER DESIGN. PIMA WILL HAVE ONE-TO-ONE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE TEAMS AND THE JUDGES. THE TEAMS WILL HAVE TO GIVE A PRESENTATION TO THE JUDGES ABOUT THEIR ROVER DEVELOPMENT.
THIS PRESENTATION WILL COVER THE LESSONS LEARNED DURING THE WHOLE LIFE CYCLE OF DEVELOPING A ROVER, FOCUSING ON SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT ASPECTS, FROM THE PROJECT PLAN TO MANUFACTURING AND TESTING THE ROVER. TEAMS MAY ALSO INCLUDE SPIN-OFFS THAT HAVE EMERGED FROM THEIR ROVER PROJECT. FURTHERMORE, THIS PRESENTATION OFFERS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE JUDGES TO ASK SOME SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THE BPP IS TO EVALUATE THE TEAM’S ABILITY TO DEVELOP THE BUSINESS ACUMEN OF THE TEAM AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO BUILD PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA, WHICH AIDS THEM IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR PROJECT.
WE PROUDLY PARTICIPATED IN THE INTERNATIONAL ROVER CHALLENGE (IRC) IN 2023 AND ACHIEVED THE REMARKABLE FEAT OF SECURING 2ND PLACE. OUR JOURNEY IN THE COMPETITION WAS FILLED WITH CHALLENGES, LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES, AND THE CHANCE TO SHOWCASE THE CAPABILITIES OF ROVERX. THIS ACHIEVEMENT STANDS AS A TESTAMENT TO OUR DEDICATION, TEAMWORK, AND COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE.
