Three students were a little sad when NASA’s Opportunity Rover went silent on the Martian surface after 15 years. So they decided to build their own rover inspired by Opportunity to run their backyard with an off-the-shelf robotic chassis, a Raspberry Pi, and the usual list of parts such as engines, H-bridges, and batteries.
Like the real rover, the car uses a rocker-bogie system, though it’s a little less complex than the version NASA sent to the Red Planet. The pickup car comes complete with miniature solar panels to recharge its on-board battery, thanks to some garden-dollar garden lights. A few videos after the break show how the rover is controlled, as well as the view returned from her camera on board.
The rover ran a simulated Mars mission as part of a school project, where it had to find an object and transfer an image of it to the base of the home base, and by its appearance was a resounding success. But the young explorers are not resting on their laurels, and are already working on a second version of their reconnaissance pattern that can operate in bad weather and includes some new tools such as a robotic arm and infrared lighting for low-light imaging.
We’ve seen a lot of Mars rover clones in the past, but there’s always room for more. Of course, if you are looking for something a little easier to get started with, you can always go the LEGO route.
