EPFL Xplore is a student association aiming to design and develop rovers from scratch to participate in international competitions: the University Rover Challenge in the United States and the European Rover Challenge in Poland.
These competitions gather 4 main tasks to achieve:
A Science task instructs the Rover to collect soil samples, and analyse those in-situ in the scope of a biological/geological science plan formerly defined by students.
An Equipment Servicing task assesses the agility of the Rover’s robotic arm, which shall quickly manipulate small objects.
An Autonomous Navigation task qualifies the ability of the Rover to drive autonomously from one location to another and overcome the complexity of a rugged desertic terrain.
And finally, a Retrieval and Delivery task requires the Rover to collect a cache and deliver it to a given location.