About
The Boston University Mars Rover Club (BUMRC) is a completely student-run organization at Boston University working towards building the next best Mars rover. The club currently maintains a body of over 50 members across all its sub-teams.
BUMRC seeks to showcase its rover and compete in the annual University Rover Challenge (URC)
in Utah in 2023. The 2023 URC competition will be the Mars Rover Club's first official competition and is where we hope to
put our rover to the test against other established teams.
Organizational Structure
The BUMRC is organized into two groups: the E-Board and the Sub-teams. The E-Board is comprised of 7 members and is the club’s governing body. Led by the club president, Kevin Vasquez, the E-Board handles all club logistics including scheduling club-wide events, organizing guest talks, and general outreach programs.
The club’s functional body is divided into several Sub-teams. Led by a team lead, each sub-team works towards their established goals, developing their assigned rover subsystem or function. For example, the power system sub-team works towards creating a resillient, reliable, and safe power system for the rover to operate on. In addition, sub-teams are encouraged to be create their own solutions whenever possible as opposed to reusing pre-exisiting tools. The power system sub-team, for one, is creating their own power management board capable of sensing, controlling, and if need be, terminating power to devices onboard the rover.
The E-Board and the Sub-team leads work in tandem to ensure continued work on the rover and overall member engagement.
We are on track to compete in the 2022 URC.
BUMRC is happy to announce that our preliminary design report has been submitted to the competition judges. Read the report in the Document Center.
Employing aritificial intelligence and machine learning to enable autonomous rover operation.
Desiging, simulating, and manufacturing the rover's chassis and drivetrain system -- all in-house.
Constructing a software-ready robotic arm platform capable of rapid, precise movement in all directions.
Desiging a robotic arm software system which interfaces with the various internal arm components for complete and articulate control.
An integrated sample analysis system to detect signs of life — all on-board the rover.
Enabling a long-range communication link, operating on multiple frequencies for added reliability.
Fostering relations with established businesses and organizations with shared interests.