Pupils Design Mars Rover

This term, the Caterham Computer Engineers Club were tasked with designing and building a Mars rover. Their brief stated that the vehicle should be both manoeuvrable and rugged enough to be able to cope with extremes of terrain such as soft sand and rocky outcrops. Several prototypes used Lego EV3 components which were controlled via an iPad whilst others used either a Raspberry Pi or Micro:bit to control movement. The winning rover, designed and built by Ho B, was an eight-wheeled monster. Four motors independently control all wheels working in pairs to ensure traction is never lost whilst the high ground clearance allows easy passage across rough terrain. A purpose-built controller makes it easy to drive the rover either from an onboard seating position or remotely should safety become an issue. Everything is controlled by a Raspberry Pi which Ho also programmed.

Neil Stokes

Head of Computer Science