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How student teams from India are building Mars rovers in their own backyard
Summary
Despite financial and technical challenges, student teams from India are making a mark at global Mars rover challenges
At Delhi’s Kirori Mal College, the last thing you’d expect to see is a Mars rover. At the physics department lab—surrounded by multiple oscilloscopes and charts explaining the polarisation of light—five members of the KMC Robo Physicists team are explaining what it takes to build a Mars rover prototype without any high-end technologies and infinite resources.
“For me, it had a lot to do with how a rover works because I’d done similar projects in school... But to make something from scratch, with your own knowledge and the resources at hand, is always interesting," says Shaivee Sharma, 19, who is part of the mechanical sub-system at KMC Robo Physicists, which has around 25 members.
Among the many space robotics competitions that take place globally, there are perhaps none more captivating than the Mars rover challenges. Every year, student teams from across the world compete at the University Rover Challenge (URC; launched in 2006 and a project of The Mars Society, a US-based non-profit and space advocacy organisation), International Rover Challenge (IRC; organised in India by the Space Robotics Society, a non-profit based in Delhi) and European Rover Challenge. These annual competitions for college students challenge teams to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will one day work alongside astronauts on the Martian surface. Indian teams—from colleges and institutes across the country—are a regular fixture at these competitions.
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Unlike big global space agencies, these student teams work on tight budgets, seek sponsors on their own, use techniques like 3D printing and CNC (computer numerical control, which refers to the computerised operation of machining tools used in manufacturing) machines, and adhere to new competition rules and requirements every year.
“This is a completely different platform where students can bring their own ideas," says Kajal Jindal, assistant professor, department of physics, Kirori Mal College and the faculty in-charge of the KMC Robo Physicists team.
The origins of the team go back to 2009, and the most recent iteration of their rover was presented at the University of Delhi Centenary Celebrations in 2022, says Prof. Dinesh Khattar, principal, Kirori Mal College. “This is a very good training ground for the students. The only issue we face is shortage of funds. We provide whatever we can, but sometimes it’s not enough," Khattar says.
Competing globally
At IRC 2024, the Mars Rover Manipal (MRM) team, a multi-disciplinary team from Manipal Academy of Higher Education in Karnataka, emerged victorious. The team was also awarded for showcasing how agile their rover—Karna—was in instrument deployment and maintenance operation, and reconnaissance and delivery operation tasks.
MRM was founded in October 2014 and has participated in different rover challenges since 2016. It currently has about 50 members. Their research team has also been actively publishing innovative work and participating in international science conferences.
“We recruit yearly, and all the new members undergo a task phase. It’s a training period where they research, learn and get some hands-on training on the rover to build their prototype or bring improvements when they make it to the team. The task phase period is generally around 9-10 months," says Swaraj Dangare, 21, MRM’s current team manager.
Every competition lists different tasks that a rover must perform. These range from searching, locating, picking up, and delivering objects to specific locations using GPS coordinates to autonomous driving. Students must also solve astrobiology tasks. A rover must collect samples from designated sites (the URC, for instance, takes place in a desert location in Utah, resembling the conditions on Mars) and perform scientific analysis on them using onboard tools and chemicals.
To work on solutions for the rover to tackle these tasks and its overall design, teams are split into sub-systems or departments: mechanical, biosciences, software simulation, electrical and so on.
Vrishin Ashlyn Lakra, 20, who works in the mechanical sub-system at MRM, explains how a rover’s robotic arm must perform tasks. “This (mechanical task) mission must simulate the rover helping an astronaut on Mars. The purpose is to perform precise small operations on instrument panels. There are various operations a rover can do with its robotic manipulator or arm. These include flipping switches, typing etc. Another criteria of the competition is that a rover should be able to lift a cache of 5kg," Lakra says.
Every year, teams modify their rovers depending on the problem statement—or tasks to be performed—of the competition. “We have a budget but sometimes it also comes down to jugaad," Dangare says. “If the mechanical team can build a mount for the rover using leftover scrap, then they won’t buy anything new."
Het Ambaliya, 20, also part of the team’s mechanical design and manufacturing sub-system, describes this perfectly. “We tend to focus more on functionality over looks."
While Mars Rover Manipal can be called veterans at these competitions, newer teams are also finding their feet in this rover race. Take Team Vicharaka, which started last year at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru. The team consists of 15-20 active members, primarily first and second-year undergraduate students, and is aiming to participate in the URC in 2025.
The team is currently building its third prototype and plans to test the rover in a forested area at IISc, followed by a more challenging desert environment like Rajasthan. “Building the rover requires a substantial investment, typically ranging from ₹15-20 lakh, depending on the complexity of the model," Sidak Singh Grewal, 20, a member of Team Vicharaka and currently a third year undergraduate student at IISc. For comparison, Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission, which landed on Mars in 2021, is projected to cost approximately $3 billion (around ₹25,200 crore). “We constantly try to minimise costs by cutting down on direct procurement and relying on customized and indigenously developed technologies," says Grewal.
Teams use a variety of commercially available materials for the rover’s construction: including aluminium, iron, and steel for the body or chassis. The entire process can take between 6 months and a year.
Annirudh KP, 21, team lead at the IIT Bombay Mars Rover Team (MRT-IITB), started in 2013, says teams must operate on a limited budget and time. “A lot of the 3D printing happens in-house. But going for CNC machining or off-the-shelf products (which can later be assembled) can be expensive," Annirudh says during a video call from Germany, where he’s currently a research intern at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. MRT-IITB’s Tezant rover, developed in 2022-23, is their eighth iteration.
Exciting future
Apart from the technical challenges, the biggest stumbling block for these young teams is securing sponsors. Juggling their studies and the manufacturing phase of a rover is also tricky. “As we are undergraduate students, the other major hurdle is our academics. Often, the composition dates clash with our exams, affecting our development phase," says Dangare.
But their passion for science continues to spur them on. “The biggest inspiration for the team is Isro and IISc itself. The kind of work these institutions are doing for the country and betterment of science has always inspired students and the team to work more," Grewal adds on email.
Interest in space-related activities among students has been on the rise in India, given the success of the Chandrayaan programme and Mars Orbiter Mission (launched in 2013) in the last decade. But there’s been bigger interest in rovers and space vehicles after Chandrayaan 3, which was launched in 2023 and included the rover Pragyan.
While Nasa’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) has been running since 1994, known earlier as the Great Moonbuggy Race, Isro also launched the Isro Robotics Challenge-URSC in November 2023, the winners of which are scheduled to be announced on 23 August to mark National Space Day. Isro’s website says the solutions provided by students in this challenge have greater chances of getting incorporated into future interplanetary robotics missions.
The rovers built by Indian teams have also found takers in real-life scenarios in areas of disaster management, mining, and law enforcement. “Operating on earth and operating in space are two different things. The rover can also be seen as an all-terrain vehicle, which can be used to, say, inspect a tunnel or even for defence purposes," says Annirudh. “Science is shown to be too complicated. But these tech teams help in demystifying this image."
At the project workshop of the KMC Robo Physicists team in Delhi is a small poster on the wall, which reads “Objectives: To navigate the terrain of Mars"—along with photographs of the rover and previous team members. On the opposite wall, a big slab is filled with manufacturing tools, wiring, and other equipment. In one corner is the chassis for the rover, which is due for assembly again. The teams says a new update to the rover will be ready in the next two years.
Lehar Laxmi Joshi, 20, who recently graduated from Kirori Mal College, says the team is now working on adding more movement to their rover and introducing a greater degree of freedom. “Six degrees of freedom"—as the technical term goes—will allow the rover to be manipulated and rotated more easily. “Our rover is called Infinit-2," the team says.
Even in the middle of the lab’s organised chaos, there is space for enthusiasm. The possibilities for these young minds are endless.
