TERRAIN EXPLORATION AND ANALYSIS MACHINE FINAL PROJECT REPORT

Abstract

The Terrain Exploration and Analysis Machine (TEAM) is a robot designed for the 2022 NASA Big Idea Challenge. The challenge required its competitors to select an environment from a list; each terrain had unique conditions for the robot designs. TEAM was designed to maneuver around steep, rugged terrain near the Artemis Basecamp in the year 2026. TEAM’s design was required to be capable of lifting equipment or obstacles heavier than the robot. This report discusses the theoretical design of the TEAM robot and the prototype that was constructed for the 2022 Senior Design Day at the University of Arizona. The theoretical design was created to achieve the goals of the NASA Big Idea challenge and had a list of documents generated for the competition. The prototype was designed to showcase several of the major mission objectives of the theoretical. Although the prototype had lower quality equipment, it was able to achieve the desired mission objectives. The theoretical TEAM was meant to detect, identify, and avoid or interact with obstacle or scientific payloads. The prototype of TEAM had limited walking capabilities, but it was able to detect and identify different objects, and if the motors had worked properly, TEAM would have been able to avoid obstacles as well.