Trine continues successful streak in NASA rover competition

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — For the fourth time in five years, a team of Trine University student engineers has earned recognition at NASA’s annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) competition.

The Trine team of design engineering technology seniors received the STEM Engagement Award in the College/University division.

The award is presented by NASA to one team in each division for inspiring others in its community and local schools to pursue the study of engineering design and other STEM topics.

In addition, Trine’s rover qualified for a place in the standings for the second year in a row. Trine finished 12^th out of 29 college and university teams with a run time of 5:52.

Team members RJ Anderson of Kendallville, Indiana, Morgan Hinderliter, of Shelbyville, Indiana, Emma Oslakovich of Coal City, Illinois, Grant Pickard of Wilmington, Ohio, Adrienne Rosey of Schoolcraft, Michigan, and Chris Schuman of Bangor, Michigan, traveled to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from April 18-20 for the competition.

STEM engagement

The team conducted two activities as part of its STEM engagement efforts.

An outreach booth at a career fair hosted by the Branch Area Careers Center in Coldwater, Michigan, focused on areas including 3D printing, a proximity sensor activity and learning about the Trine rover. The team engaged with 237 high school students and mentors during that event.

The team also hosted a STEM Fair for area sixth-graders on Trine’s campus. The fair, which drew 290 sixth-graders and teachers, included popsicle bridge building, an artificial lung demonstration, a yoga session, math card games, LEGO Mindstorm robotics and paper straw rockets.

“As a kid, I always loved attending these events. It was a full circle moment for me to be able to give back and help those after me,” said Rosey.

The 2024 effort continues a pattern of success for Trine NASA HERC teams. The 2020 team won the AIAA Best Paper Award, the 2021 team won the Task Challenge Award and the 2022 team took second place overall in the College/University division.

“The success of our student design teams over the past several years has reflected highly on our department, school and university,” said Timothy Jenkins, Ph.D., faculty advisor. “This success helps our program recruit new students who see opportunity for their future success both in school (and maybe being on the next team) and as future engineers.”

“Trine is now recognized nationally and internationally as having solid engineering programs that lead to success in school competition but also life, preparing our graduates to lead, succeed and serve. I was struck by the willingness of our students to engage with other teams, talk proudly about our designs, and learn from other teams’ designs and thought processes. These collaborations make our students better engineers and highlight the quality of a Trine education.”

New layout, suspension

The Trine team designed this year’s rover with side-by-side seating to eliminate the challenge of folding it to fit within the space specified by NASA. This year’s rover also had a central pivot suspension system, known as single-point suspension.

The team overcame challenges in steering and drivetrain design in developing and building their rover.

“The steering assembly was very, very difficult to design and construct, as the team had very limited knowledge about steering,” said Pickard. “We went through various design iterations and calculations until we got an assembly that could traverse the course well.”

“With our original pedal height, our pedals would collide with our steering column,” said Rosey. “We had to raise the pedals up and lean our seats back farther to solve this problem.”

Though the team had some components break during the first day of competition, they said the Trine rover seemed more durable than others on the course.

“This project is very challenging, but it is also very beneficial if you want to learn about the entire design and fabrication process,” said Rosey.

30 years of HERC

More than 600 students with 72 teams from around the world participated this year as HERC celebrated its 30th anniversary as a NASA competition.

Participating teams represented institutions from 24 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as well as 13 other nations from around the world.

“This student design challenge encourages the next generation of scientists and engineers to engage in the design process by providing innovative concepts and unique perspectives,” said Vemitra Alexander, HERC activity lead for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “While celebrating the 30th anniversary of the challenge, HERC also continues NASA’s legacy of providing valuable experiences to students who may be responsible for planning future space missions including crewed missions to other worlds.”

HERC is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis program, which seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC, with many former students now working at NASA or within the aerospace industry.

Top photo: Members of Trine University’s NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) team receive the STEM Engagement Award. Beginning second from left, Emma Oslakovich, RJ Anderson, Morgan Hinderliter, Grant Pickard, Adrienne Rosey, faculty advisor Tim Jenkins, and Chris Schuman.