The 2008-2009 York University Team
In 2008 (the second annual URC), YURT competed
for the first time as the only Canadian entry, and came
in a respectable third place in an international field of 11
teams. Building on this experience, YURT expanded its
member base, completely redesigned its rover, and competed in the third annual URC in 2009, again as the only
Canadian entry. Thanks to the dedication, and engineering
and management skills of its members, YURT won first
place in URC 2009 against 9 experienced international
teams, more than doubling the score of the second-place
entry.
The engineering concepts learned through the rover challenge are often considered ”difficult“ to teach in the class room. Practical curricula often include practical components in the form of design projects, team exercises, and
laboratory training. The rover challenge offered a wide range of lessons that included much of the above experience with little guidance in a longer term with more student participation, and allowed the application of skills
and technology from within the classroom to a real-world
environment.
Through two years of designing, building, and testing the rovers, we obtained valuable experience in project
management, practical engineering and team-effort. Among
the many lessons we learned, we consider the following to
be the most significant:
1. Fund-raising and financial management aspects of
a student engineering project are just as important
as good engineering management practices, and are
the underpinnings of successful project delivery.
2. The team should have access to experienced feedback
and be able to showcase the design through
media and outreach programs, so presentations and
public speaking are an important skill set.
3. In a student project such as this, it is essential that
simple, incremental engineering steps be planned
instead of long, complex development cycles due
to volatile student timetables.
4. Contingency planning for every major technical and
organizational aspect of the project is essential because
of frequent lack of experience on the part
of students, and builds good engineering habits as
well.
5. Engineering experience provided through practical
challenge and competition is an effective method
for teaching both ”soft“ and ”hard“ skills, and can
complement a classroom education if well planned.
After working with a group of talented students of a variety
of backgrounds, the authors (development team lead
and faculty advisor) feel strongly that the project has
been a great success in several aspects. It presented a
unique and invaluable opportunity to celebrate the engineering
creativity and educational benefits.
We have gained irreplaceable lessons that would have
been difficult to offer in traditional classroom settings.
The rovers from the 2008 and 2009 University Rover Challenge
featured simple, effective design and well-built, useable
components. The members of YURT built a remotelyoperated robotic platform using off-the-shelf and machined
components that could effectively perform research and
technical tasks in a challenging environment. They then
learned, in detail, how to build on their experience to produce
a more reliable, more capable, and greatly superior
rover, reaping the rewards of their hard work at URC
2009.
More importantly, we learned through hands-on, inthefield experiential education, that team effort and wellplanned
project management are as important as quality
engineering design. We also learned through a competitive
process and large-scale project that soft skills such as
fund-raising and public speaking are also recognized engineering
skills that may be more difficult to implement
through conventional curriculum.
The York University Rover Team is proposed as a successful model of engineering and engineering-related learning that can compliment a classroom education. We, as a team, look forward to another rewarding year of competition and have initiated a design process for URC 2010.
The YURT would like to acknowledge the members of
the York University Rover Team 2008 and 2009 for their
support and invaluable input, especially regarding their
personal experiences from the competition. We also would
like to acknowledge the on-going support and encouragement
from our corporate and university sponsors of the
York University Rover Team including COM DEV International,
MDA Corporation, Thoth Technologies, Ocean
Optics, M&B MAG, Bright Ideas Group, and at York University
the Faculty of Earth and Space Science and Engineering,
CRESS, SC&LD, the York Federation of Students, the Office of the Vice-President Academic&Provost,
the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and the York Alumni Association. Click here to read full article.
