WVU University Rover Challenge

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WVU University Rover Challenge

Welcome to the official account of the University Rover Challenge team at West Virginia University! 🚀

10/16/2026

Mock Competition Spotlight: Equipment Servicing Mission
In the Equipment Servicing Mission, the rover’s fine motor skills are tested as it needs to use the arm to carry out different tasks. The team must locate and insert a tube into a cache container, lock the lid, then pick up the container and take it to a drawer located on the lander. They also have to perform dexterous tasks such as turning valve handles, push buttons, flip switches, turn the E-stop, and use the joystick to set launch coordinates.
This mission was a joint effort between the drivetrain and manipulation subteams, as they both worked together to build the lander used to carry out these tasks. It also gave members the opportunity to get lots of practice manipulating the rover arm in preparation for the University Rover Challenge!

10/15/2026

Mock Competition Spotlight: Science 2 Mission

In the Science 2 Mission, a second team of new members put their scientific planning into practice by traveling to two different sites, collecting soil samples, and documenting the surrounding terrain. Using the rover’s onboard systems, they gathered data and analyzed samples from both locations.

Afterward, members presented their findings to the judges, discussing the scientific significance of their results and their implications for understanding Mars’ potential to support life!

By conducting two separate Science Missions with different teams, we gave more of our new members the opportunity to develop their scientific investigation, sample collection, data analysis, and presentation skills while preparing for the University Rover Challenge!

10/14/2026

Mock Competition Spotlight: Science 1 Mission

In the Science 1 Mission, students put their scientific planning into practice by traveling to two different sites, collecting soil samples, and documenting the surrounding terrain. Using the rover’s onboard systems, they gathered data and analyzed samples from both locations.

Afterward, members presented their findings to the judges, discussing the scientific significance of their results and their implications for understanding Mars’ potential to support life.

This challenge helped our new members develop their scientific investigation, sample collection, data analysis, and presentation skills while preparing for the University Rover Challenge!

10/13/2026

Mock Competition Spotlight: Autonomy Mission

In the Autonomy Mission, the rover autonomously navigated to GNSS waypoints, located ArUco marker tags, and searched for objects throughout the field without direct driver control!

This challenge gave our new members experience with autonomous navigation and object detection while helping prepare our team for the University Rover Challenge!

10/12/2026

Mock Competition Spotlight: Delivery Mission

As we prepare for this year’s University Rover Challenge, our new members recently took on mock missions designed to simulate the challenges they’ll encounter at competition and give them hands-on experience operating our rover.

In the Delivery Mission, students remotely operated the rover using camera feeds to navigate the course, locate and deliver objects to an astronaut, collect and transfer samples between toolboxes, and identify additional objects using GNSS waypoints.

These challenges helped our team build the driving, robotic arm operation, and teamwork skills needed to take on the real competition!

Stay tuned as we showcase more of our mock competitions throughout the week!

09/03/2026

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the URC table at ENGRFest today!

If you're interested in getting involved, please fill out the interest form through the Linktree in our bio. All majors are welcome!

06/07/2026

We survived URC 2026!

Team Mountaineers is proud to announce that we placed 4th out of 116 teams from 18 different countries. Our team had the top scores in both our System Acceptance Review and tied for first in the Autonomous Navigation mission.

03/25/2026

Meet Deimos & Phobos! Team Mountaineers is officially headed to URC 2026 in Utah this May.

11/19/2025

This Tuesday we are talking about Patrick Boarman and Ryan Ostrander. Patrick is a senior in mechanical and aerospace engineering with an aerospace emphasis and Ryan is a senior in mechanical engineering.

🦾What is your job in URC?

Patrick: Drivetrain Coordinator (Mainly in charge of wheg design)

Ryan: Drivetrain Coordinator

🦿What is your favorite thing about URC?

Patrick: My favorite part of URC is the push from others to be a better engineer because there are so many great ones on this team.

Ryan: My favorite thing about URC is working with engineers from all different disciplines.

🤖What is your dream job after college?

Patrick: I would love to work on anything in the field of hypersonics or high speed unsteady aerodynamics

Ryan: My dream job after college is between a manufacturing engineer, biomedical engineer, or eventually becoming an engineering professor.

⚙️What is a hobby you have outside of URC?

Patrick: I love to go to the gym and powerlift. I have competed nationally multiple times and have placed #7 in the nation in 2024

Ryan: Outside of URC I enjoy coaching and playing soccer.

11/03/2025

Team Mountaineers had an awesome week showing off our rover at both the Pumpkin Drop and Track or Treat! We loved meeting everyone, seeing the creative costumes, and sharing our rover and robotic dog with the community. 🍬 🎃 🤖

Big thanks to and for having us!

Address

West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV
26501

Website

https://linktr.ee/wvu.urc

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