Wednesday, October 29, 2008
We came in second!
Our robot and the robot of Bremen were the only vehicles to find the sample inside the crater.
Except for two teams, all the others could descend the crater, but wihtout finding the sample.Thus, we are really happy for the result fo the competion, even if did not win.
We would like to thank all the people who supported us, and who worked with us so hard, and a special thanks to our partner SCHUNK S.r.l., that provided DC motors for our vehicle, thus allowing us to gain this excellent result!
DAVID ready to run!
DAVID inside the crater during the Challenge
Our Team after the competition!!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Good result for The Lunatics Team!
Not all the teams descended into the crater,
and only two (Bremen and us) could find the sample.
Finally, only Bremen came out of the crater with the sample and therefore won.
Among the remaining five teams, some weren't able to make the descent
and others couldn't find the sample.
Even if there as of now there is no official ranking, we think that Jacobs
and University of Pisa are tied for second.
We were a little unlucky: due to some problems to
the motor of the Casting Manipulator, we had to
reconfigure the vehicle to go down
the crater without the Casting.
A SCHUNK employee brought overnight personally an optimized
drive unit from Germany to Teneriffe.
But due to surrounding conditionsand time schedule it was not possible
to integrate it completely the way we planned it.
At any rate found the crater, descended, and found the sample to collect.
The original mecchanism designed for collecting the sample
(a drill designed to collect samples at various depths) was not
adapted to the way ESA had set up the sample (on the crater surface).
We on-the-fly modified the gripper in the days right before the competition
and were able to collect the sample.
Unfortunately, while ascending the crater to return to the base,
one wheel blocked against a rock, and thus the motor near the wheel
stopped. At the same time, the other wheels got caught up in anylon sheet that
ESA had put under the sample material to keep it from polluting the environment.
...and so we stopped :-(
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Lunatics Team in streaming from Tenerife!
rtsp://195.169.140.121/Live1.sdp
rtsp://195.169.140.121/Live2.sdp
to watch the video open QickTime Player, select "open url" and digit one of the two addresses above.
[Free Download QuickTime Player: http://www.apple.com/it/quicktime/download/]
Our team will run Saturday, October 25th. the competition will start at 9 p.m. and the Lunatics are the fourth team scheduled (around 2.30 a.m.)
Now the Team is running the last tests on the vehicle.
In the picture: Riccardo, Giorgio and Manuel working on the vehicle in Tenerife.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
DAVID leaves for Tenerife
Last saturday the Lunactics Team left for Tenerife, where the final of the ESA Lunar Robotics Challenge will take place.
Before leaving, DAVID has made his official debut in front of the Faculty of Engineering of the University.
In the picture, DAVID and the Lunatics, professor Antonio Bicchi, coordinator of the project, and professor Emilio Vitale, Academic Dean of Enginering.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Visit of our Japanese collaborator
(from left to right) Luca Greco, Riccardo, Hitoshi, and Adriano
Hitoshi, Michael, Federico, Gaetano, Manolo, Fabio, and Adriano
Hitoshi, Soumen (the Indian member of our team), and Adriano.
Now our team looks so international!!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Night Tests & Sample
Look at the video for David maneuvers and the sample retrieval backup subsystem in action.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tests inside the Regional Park of San Rossore
In-lab tests on very fine sand
Sand inside the College of Engineering!
Manolo and Fabio working on the rover chassis.
Federico trying to find out new solutions...
The Lunatics Team in the Lab
Friday, September 19, 2008
First Test on the Lunar Vehicle
The test has been held on the beach of Tirrenia (Pisa).
Thursday, August 7, 2008
SCHUNK becomes the official sponsor of University of Pisa for the ESA Lunar Robotics Challenge.
SCHUNK’s factory in Hausen
During a project meeting that has taken place at SCHUNK’s factory (
The Lunar Vehicle
Monday, July 21, 2008
Our Robot Arm
The arm has a cable mounted onboard the mobile platform of the vehicle, and it can easily reach several meters from its base on Earth with sufficient accuracy, and an even longer distance in low gravity, such as on the Moon.
Thus, its exploitation can indeed reduce the path to be travelled by the robot and even avoid a full descent of the craters of the Moon.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
CDR passed!
The Critical Design Review (CDR) of the eight projects selected
for the final phase of the ESA Lunar Robotics Challenge competition
has taken place at ESA’s European Space Research and
Technology Centre (ESTEC), in the Netherlands, on 9 and 10 July.
Adriano, Riccardo and Felipe attended the meeting as representatives
of the Pisa Lunatics Team, and they've just announced us that
our project has passed the CDR!
The project of the University of Pisa has also received several
comments from ESA experts and other teams that were quite to
the point and indeed very useful.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Time For Critiques
in the next two days. The blog was a bit left aside for the lack of time, so...
First of all, here are a couple of pictures of our robot:
He looks smart in the second picture, doesn't he?
It is still just virtual, but we plan to make it real asap.
Wishing our best to the Adriano, Felipe and Riccardo for the CDR,
see you on next update!!