MoonBots Team 120 - Team Photo

HiRez version available upon request.

Team 120 - Prototype MoonBot Rover

We did a working mock up of our rover design.  Key features include the drive train powering the front wheels to increase the ground clearance for getting over the crater walls, a front mounted distance sensor, room for the Flip video camera in front of the Brick and of course the most advanced feature of all - the motorized fork lift type attachment in the front for grabbing elements from the moon surface.

Phase I Video Doc - Team 120

Phase I Design - Team 120

Its not exactly as we designed it - we had a bit of trouble getting the Lego Digital Design software to do exactly what we wanted.

Early Design Discussion

MoonBots Team 120

...sans Isaac and Capt. Ed

We have a name!

Make way for the LARGE JUMPING COOL INTELLIGENT ROCKETS! The kids rejected any of my suggestions and decided to make up a name based on the first letters of their names. Somehow the captain's name wasn't included. Who is running this ship anyway?

MoonBots: Design Proposal

--- Watch this space! ---

Phase I - Awaits!

We have to move it move it! Phase One ends May 28th and we just formed the team - Captain Ed, Caffrey, Liam, Isaac and Joseph.

Phase One: April 15, 2010 12:00:01 AM (Pacific Time) - May 28, 2010 11:59:59 (Pacific Time)

Here is what we need to do:

Robot Design Proposal

Each Team must submit a digital Robot Design Proposal created using either LDRAW, LEGO Digital Designer or Google SketchUp by May 28, 2010 11: 59:59 (Pacific Time). The proposed Robot must be able to complete the requirements given in Section 9, subject to the conditions provided therein. The Robot Design Proposal should be uploaded to or hyperlinked from the Team web site indicated in the Web Location Package (see below). Please see the Challenge Blueprint for further information pertaining to requirements of the proposal.

Video Essay

The Team must submit a video of between one and three minutes in length in which the Team members discuss the Team’s thoughts on the primary reason or reasons for lunar exploration, including their expectations for the most important discovery to be made by future missions conducted by Google Lunar X PRIZE teams and government funded lunar missions. The video should be uploaded to the Team’s online video sharing platform indicated in the Web Location Package (see below). The video must include the Challenge Logo, referenced above, as well as a Team Logo designed by the Team.

Web Location Package

The Team must submit a list of relevant URLs for the Team’s blog or web site; the Team’s online video sharing platform; and the online location of the Team’s Robot Design Proposal. If desired, the Team may also provide links to their image hosting website.

Blogging and Video Blogging

The Team is encouraged to submit blogs or video blogs in written, spoken, and/or subtitled English describing the Team’s progress to their web site, blog, an online video sharing platform designated in their Web Location Package. Teams are welcome to post as much as they want.

Team Photograph

The Team must submit a high-resolution photograph showing all of the Team members to a web site, blog, or image hosting website specified in their Web Location Package. The minimum resolution of this photograph should be 300 dots per inch (dpi).

Description of the MoonBots Challenge

The X PRIZE Foundation and Google have created the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a new, private race to the Moon that is engaging and exciting the global public while enabling the commercial exploration of space and dramatically reducing its cost. The Google Lunar X PRIZE is expected to increase the connection that individuals around the world feel to space exploration, science, and education by taking advantage of new tools for the rapid and targeted distribution of information. By reigniting a race to the Moon, the Google Lunar X PRIZE is intended to engage a new generation, making lunar exploration not just a historical accomplishment, but a tangible reality.

To further this purpose, the X PRIZE Foundation (XPF) and LEGO System A/S (LEGO), hereinafter collectively referred to as “the Sponsors” are administering “MoonBots, a Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO MINDSTORMS Challenge,” hereinafter “MoonBots” or the “Challenge”. MoonBots is designed to challenge teams of adults and children (aged 9 years and older) to develop innovative systems made from LEGO MINDSTORMS kits that are capable of performing a simulated lunar mission. The Challenge is considered a “game of skill” and is designed to help teams learn about robotics and team building, while also providing excitement about the new Moon race.

To win the MoonBots Challenge, teams of adults and children ( 9 years and older) must first develop a simulated lunar robot with design software and then build and test this robot with a LEGO MINDSTORMS kit. They also must provide written and video essays about their participation in the Challenge and about the importance of exploration of the Moon.

Names for the MoonBots Challenge

First step is the register the MoonBot team and to do that we need a name!

Ideas:

Moon Buggies
One Small Step
The Moon or Bust
Green Cheese
Cosmic Danish
Long Haired Hippy Freaks

MoonBots

Tremont Robotics continues to do well in competitions in Maine without founder Edward Fielding who has moved to Etna, NH and currently teaches robotics and programming to kids at the AVA Gallery in Lebanon, NH. Next up is the MoonBots challenge with some neighborhood kids.