A team of students from the University of Iowa Robotics Club competed in the 2015 NASA Robotic Mining Competition May 18-22 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Only a year old, the club competed for the first time in the national event.

The competition is for university-level students to design and build a mining robot that can traverse the simulated Martian terrain features, excavate basaltic regolith and deposit the regolith into a Collector Bin within 10 minutes. The complexities of the challenge include the abrasive characteristics of the basaltic regolith simulant, the weight and size of the limitations of the mining robot, and the ability to control it from a remote center. The scoring for the mining category requires teams to consider a number of design and operation factors such as dust tolerance and projection, communications, vehicle mass, energy/power required, and autonomy. 

Teams competed in five major competition categories including: on-site mining, systems engineering paper, outreach project, slide presentation (optional), and team spirit (optional). Additionally, teams earned bonus points for mined and deposited BP-1 regolith simulant in the competition attempts.

The purpose of the University of Iowa Robotics Club is to further student education and provide a medium through which students and community members can develop their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The club competes in various robotics competitions, and to give back to the robotics community through mentoring and volunteering with FIRST teams and/or other STEM-based programs, including non-profits.