Zero Robotics, robotics competition in space, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Zero Robotics competition 2013

Published on Jan 20, 2014

Code your way to space! Each year the Zero Robotics competition challenges students to programme and run commands in a virtual world. Choose the right strategy and put in lots of hard work and your tearn might earn a place in the finals held on the International Space Station.

Spheres - short for Synchronised Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites -- move around the International Space Station using 12 jets powered by compressed gas.

This year 18 teams from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Romania, Belgium and the Netherlands representing 140 European students joined the US competitors writing code to redirect an incoming comet while taking space debris and limited laser resources into account.
 

'Smart SPHERES' Fly High Aboard International Space Station

Published on May 19, 2013

On Dec. 12 engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and Johnson Space Center in Houston conducted an experiment using small, free-flying robotic satellites called "Smart SPHERES" aboard the International Space Station. The Smart SPHERES, located in the Kibo laboratory module, were remotely operated from the International Space Station's Mission Control Center at Johnson to demonstrate how a free-flying robot can perform surveys for environmental monitoring, inspection and other routine housekeeping tasks. In the future, small robots could regularly perform routine maintenance tasks allowing astronauts to spend more time working on science experiments. In the long run, free-flying robots like Smart SPHERES also could be used to inspect the exterior of the space station or future deep-space vehicles.(NASA)
 

The Zero Robotics tournament

Published on Sep 3, 2015

Code, play and command your space droid – students across Europe can bring a squadron of minisatellites to life on the International Space Station as the ultimate space robot game.

For the fourth year, the Zero Robotics tournament will turn the Station into a gaming arena for upper secondary-school pupils. The competition challenges youngsters to write instructions that control volleyball-sized satellites through a virtual field mined with obstacles.

The Spheres ? short for Synchronised Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites – obey remote commands and can hover around the weightless Station using their own power, propulsion and navigation.

The tournament is not only about writing a computer code. Participants must solve problems, apply their maths and physics knowledge and work in teams to achieve success.
 
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