ECE students participated in the first-annual NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, which took place May 24th-28th at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The competition required that participants build a robot capable of mining at least 10kg of lunar regolith for the purpose of oxygen production on the moon. Akron's team, comprised of both electrical and mechanical engineers, build a robot within the given requirements and rules, and earned an honorable mention at the competition - placing 6th overall out of 29 teams. The team had the privilege of testing the robot at NASA Glenn Research Center before the competition. At the competition, the participating students also had the opportunity to see a space shuttle landing, rocket launch, and talk to the director of Kennedy Space Center, an astronaut, and other NASA distinguished employees.

A news story on the team can be found here: http://www.uakron.edu/im/online-newsroom/news_details.dot?newsId=1132348&crumbTitle=Team%20uses%20robotics%20know-how%20in%20lunar%20competition

A video of the team and the competition can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFhMCJ7lPcM