Welcome to ubctread.com, the home of UBC TREAD Robotics. Our goal is to build a autonomous robotic excavator capable of competing in the 2008 NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge.
The NASA Regolith Excavation Challenge is a NASA Centennial Challenge, a set of competitions sponsored by NASA with the hopes of accelerating the development of future technologies that will be necessary for space exploration.
Our entry must be able to mine 150kg of regolith, a very fine type of dirt found on the moon, in under 30 minutes. This means we will have to dig and transport more than a 4L milk jug of regolith per minute with the power of one light bulb. Furthermore, the robot must be fully autonomous and able to navigate around obstacles in the course using only technologies that would function on the moon. This condition rules out the vast majority of sensors available to an Earth-based robot, leaving only several very specialized options at our disposal.
The 30 members of TREAD Robotics spanning many disciplines of engineering and computer science have devoted over 1000 hours of unpaid labor to making our team a success. During this time, we have increased the depth of knowledge of team members by creating opportunities to apply the theory learned in our courses to a project with tangible goals.
TREAD is a part of UBC Thunderbird Robotics and is proudly supported by the UBC Faculty of Applied Science, Alma Mater Society, Engineering Physics Project Lab, and Centre for Environmental Research in Minerals, Metals and Materials.
Please explore our site. We are always seeking partnerships; feel free to contact us if you have any skills or resources that could contribute to making our team a success.
