The 2019 Canadian International Rover Competition Will Have 20 Post-Secondary Teams

The not-for-profit Canadian Space Technology Advancement Group is once again organizing the Canadian International Rover Challenge (CIRC).

According to the Canadian Space Technology Advancement Group the Canadian International Rover Challenge is an annual competition open to post-secondary student design teams globally. “Teams are challenged to construct a rover that completes a series of tasks in a simulated early colony on an extraterrestrial planet. These challenges include traversing varying terrain, autonomous operations, operating a dexterous arm, and more.”

The Canadian Space Technology Advancement Group not-for-profit was created in 2017 by University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team to manage the competition and to encourage global participation. Remarkably, the competition has grown from three teams in its first year to twenty teams this year, of which half are from Canada.

The event will be held between August 9 -12 at the Badlands Community Facility and the Badlands area around Drumheller, Alberta.

According to organizer William Davis the teams “rovers have been designed to complete a series of tasks intended to simulate challenges that a rover could face on Mars. The challenges include surface sampling, search and rescue at night, terrain traversal, crash site analysis and equipment servicing. All tasks are completed either autonomously or through teleoperation.”

Rover technology is yet another technology area where Canadian students and several commercial entities see opportunities forthcoming. Those opportunities are part of Canada’s new space strategy which includes human and robotic exploration of the moon in the near term.

The Title Sponsor according to Davis is Protocase who design custom enclosure cases. Steve Lilley from Protocase said in supporting “an initiative such as the Canadian International Rover Challenge, we are doing our small part to help inspire young minds and develop future innovators. We can’t wait to see university teams put their rovers to work in Drumheller for CIRC.”

Participating post-secondary institutions;

1. AGH Space Systems – AGH University of Science and Technology
2. Argo – Bialystok University of Technology
3. Binghamton University IEEE – SUNY Binghamton
4. Carleton Planetary Robotics Team – Carleton University
5. Husky Robotics – University of Washington
6. OSURC Mars Rover – Oregon State University
7. Projekt Scorpio – Wroclaw University of Science and Technology
8. Robotics for Space Exploration – University of Toronto
9. Rover to Mars – Hochschule Ravensburg-Weingarten
10. Space Concordia – Concordia University
11. Space Exploration Alberta Robotics – University of Alberta
12. Team Atlas – Dhaka College
13. UBC Snowbots – University of British Columbia
14. University of Guelph Robotics Team – University of Guelph
15. University of Iowa Robotics Club – University of Iowa
16. University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team – University of Saskatchewan
17. University of Warsaw Rover Team – University of Warsaw
18. UOIT Mars Rover Team – University of Ontario Institute of Technology
19. UVIC Robotics Club – University of Victoria
20. We Mars – Western University

2018 Canadian International Rover Challenge Wrap-up Video