U-M Student Teams Run on Excellence
In August 2021, MRover welcomed its members, new and old. The team was excited for a return to fully in-person work and for the opportunities to grow their machining skills, to incorporate more testing and mission practice, and to connect through more social and team-building activities.
The team kicked things off with appearances at Festifall and with the dedication of the new Ford Motor Company Robotics Building in September. The fall semester consisted of design as usual, with subteam PDRs and CDRs in early October and mid-November respectively. In December, the team left campus feeling excited, having completed a move to a larger space in the Wilson Center, and eager to prepare for the new year.
In January, the team completed manufacturing and assembly and had their rover rolling in time to submit their application to competition in February.
After returning from spring break in March, MRover hosted their first Rover Reveal event in several years in the Ford Motor Company Robotics building, complete with a Mars Yard demo. Newly-named Rosie undertook several mock missions in April and early May to prepare her for specific competition tasks.
The team’s greatest victory came in early June at the University Rover Challenge, where MRover took first place and became international champions for the first time ever, achieving their goal of a podium finish!
Throughout the year the team achieved significant updates to their design, volunteered at local events, including the Science Olympiad competition and Saline FIRST Robotics tournament, built their technical and professional skills, and grew close as a team.
Each year, the University of Michigan's Autonomous Robotic Vehicle Team designs and manufactures a new autonomous vehicle from scratch to compete at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition.
Through Fall 2021, the team onboarded new members with the necessary skills for working on the year’s vehicle, named KOHEI, and worked on assembly during the winter semester. The team was also given a presentation on systems engineering by a representative from Aptiv and was able to rekindle its partnership with Bose via sponsorship.
During competition, the team was met with several hardware and software issues that prevented them from qualifying. Going into competition, their goal was to teleoperate their robot through a practice course to collect raw sensor data that would be useful for testing next year. By the end of the weekend, they were able to accomplish their goal. Overall, the competition was a great learning experience. They look forward to seeing what the future holds!
This past year, the Solar Car Team completed design, manufacturing, and assembly of their 16th completely solar-powered car, Aevum. They participated as exhibitors at TEDxDetroit and at the Flint Regional Science Fair, hosted a Digital Twins event with Siemens, and completed a 5 day mock race around the State of Michigan. From the end of July 2022 to the beginning of August, the team’s main event was a 3000-mile long endurance run and exhibition ride across the continental United States.
The 2021-2022 school year saw Michigan Baja Racing return to form, competing nationwide at 3 on-season competitions for the first time since 2019 and becoming national champions, with the highest scoring vehicle of the season.
The team was able to travel 1) to upstate New York for an offseason competition and to retrieve data and analytics for their previous vehicles, and 2) to Houghton, Michigan to give out-of-state students a chance to experience a real Michigan winter; more importantly, new members were afforded the opportunity of driving different vehicles in heavy snow.
After battling supply chain bottlenecks and in-house manufacturing issues, Michigan Baja Racing was able to compete in their first competition of the season, held at Tennessee Tech in May 2022. This competition saw the Baja Racing team competing with their first propshaft-based 4WD system, which required a host of vehicle changes.
Some changes they made included a double-cardan joint in their steering column to avoid their front differential case, a dog-clutch disengagement case in their gearbox to reduce power loss from their engine, and an overall increase in vehicle height to allow for propshaft routing under the vehicle’s driver. It was a lot of work, but the payoff was great, as the team took home the overall 1st place for the competition, 2nd place in the 4-hour endurance race, and 3rd place for their design presentation.
The team’s second competition saw continued success. They placed 2nd overall, 1st in the acceleration event, and earned the team ‘s highest placement in the sled pull event to date. With their third competition upcoming this fall in Arizona, Michigan Baja Racing is striving for the Mike Schmidt Award, an honor given to the highest scoring car of the year.
Baja SAE - Tennessee Tech Rankings
Baja SAE - Rochester Rankings
This year, MRacing and Michigan Electric Racing combined under one name to design, manufacture, test, and compete with an all-electric race car against multiple teams across the country. Their innovative MR22 vehicle included a full carbon-fiber monocoque, an accumulator container, and custom motor controllers. They placed 2nd overall in their Michigan competition and 1st in the United States. They also took multiple podiums in the Endurance, Autocross, Skidpad, Design, and more category events. For their 2022-23 season, they look forward to continuing to push the envelope as they head to Europe for more competitions. Go Blue!
