Ms Pranati Rajagopal, ECE Electrical Engineering Year 2 student who is the Project Manager of the NUS Rover Team was recently featured on a talk show at MoneyFM 89.3 together with the team’s Technical Lead, Ms Anoushka Bhutani (Mechanical Engineering Year 2). In the talk show, the students shared about their Mars Rover Project, how they apply NASA methodology in building it, and where they see Singapore’s future in space.
In the article below, Pranati shares with us her experience as an ECE Year 2 student working with her team-mates across multiple disciplines, and the various engineering and leadership skills she applied and picked up along the way…
NUS Rover Team AY19/20:
During my freshman year (2019), I came across NUS SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) and the Rover Team during the annual Inginium fair. Other than the cool Mars Rover prototype which instantly drew my attention, what made this club different was the enthusiasm and passion with which the founding members spoke about the project. Despite being a new initiative compared to veterans like the FSAE and Bumblebee teams, the drive to try something new was palpable and I was excited to be a part of this process.
I have been involved in the Electrical and Communications sub-team these past two years and my learning journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. I was elated to have the opportunity to apply my engineering skills to real-world systems and problems. What particularly piqued my interest and curiosity to further explore the field of robotics was the fact that we were never spoon-fed the solutions to a problem. Rather, our seniors guided us in the right direction and taught us how to be resourceful and look for answers in the right places. As an ECE student, I have been exposed to the intricacies of setting up, soldering, and wiring the power system and electrical connections, programming microcontrollers to perform an array of tasks and collect vital sensor data. Additionally, I have learnt to come up with a robust communications system for transferring data and instructions to and from our Rover. Fun fact: we are looking to build a Yagi-uda antenna from scratch in the coming weeks! Our advisors, Dr. Rajesh Panicker and Mr. Eugene Ee (from iDP), have been ever supportive of our endeavors, open to guide us on technical matters and have even conducted workshops on Arduino fundamentals and PCB design during our bootcamp back in September 2020.
Submission for a rover design challenge:
Apart from my technical role, I was elected as the Project Manager for AY20/21 by the outgoing core team. This was as overwhelming as it was exciting, given that I was just entering year 2 and had to manage a multidisciplinary team of 25+ students from various years of study. I have had to constantly adapt my leadership style to ensure everyone is given a say, especially since members from year 3 and 4 have greater technical experience than I do. Furthermore, restrictions due to COVID-19 meant we had to shift to an online platform for several months. As a result, ensuring effective communication and boosting team morale has been something I have had to prioritize. Pitching to NUS faculties and external sponsors for funding has been another ballgame altogether. While my team and I have certainly encountered many challenges along the way, it is worth it when you accomplish tasks as a team, receive funding after a successful pitch, or get featured on the news and radio! At this juncture, I would like to thank the ECE department for graciously sponsoring us this year despite COVID-19 and its setbacks.
New Spirit prototype | Navigation and Communications Sub-team:
Pictured above is ‘New Spirit’, our mini rover prototype, built by our seniors in the span of just 3 months and under $500. Currently, the team is working on ‘New Opportunity’ – a larger Rover capable of navigating uneven terrain while avoiding obstacles, assisting humans with tasks such as picking loads and servicing equipment, and carrying out scientific analysis of rock and soil samples. Our aim is to qualify for the finals of the University Rover Challenge – the world’s premier robotics competition – held annually at the Mars Desert Research Station, USA. While we still have a long way to go to realize our vision, every small step is a victory in itself. For instance, just recently, some of us stayed up till midnight in the lab just to get our rover to stand and move. While the process was draining, watching our creation come to life was something that gave all of us an immense sense of satisfaction. It reaffirmed the notion that anything is possible as long as one never gives up.
Clockwise from top-left: late-night build sessions, New Opportunity, Electrical sub-team, MoneyFM Radio Talk show.
At NUS Rover Team, we seek not only to hone our hard-skills with hands-on experience but also develop our interpersonal skills whilst collaborating from across faculties, liaising with external parties, and working to optimize engineering effort with the constraints of time and budget. While it has been daunting to assume such responsibility at an early stage of my undergraduate study, I have had the unwavering support of my seniors and fellow team members at every step of the way. After all, what good is a leader without their hardworking, dedicated team?
The Team was recently featured on a talk-show at MoneyFM 89.3. The recording can be viewed here: https://fb.watch/442QXrNsMU/ (watch from 33:40). The podcast version is available here: https://omny.fm/shows/money-fm-893/pranati-rajagopal-anoushka-bhutani
