Volgend jaar vindt in Polen de European Rover Challenge 2014 plaats. De Poolse Mars Society gaat het evenement organiseren en men denkt aan een datum ergens in september of oktober. De wedstrijd is enkel open voor studenten, die zich eventueel mogen laten sponsoren door universiteiten of het bedrijfsleven. De Euopean Rover Challenge is gebaseerd op de University Rover Challenge uit Amerika, een wedstrijd voor college-studenten op het gebied van robotica. Onder het logo de tekst van het Poolse persbericht.
Persbericht Mars Society Polen.
Martian rovers competing In Poland!
It is certain that Martian rovers, for the first time, will take part in a prestigious contest in 2014 in Poland called European Rover Challenge. This information was announced at the special meeting of the Mars Society on 8th of November 2013 (oktober – red.) in Toruń in Poland.
It is confirmed that European Rover Challenge will take part in Poland in 2014 late summer and it will last 3 days. Only students and graduates will be allowed to participate in the contest but they might be supported by their universities as well as private companies. According to coordinators, the teams will be judged in 4 categories. These are: engineering, off-road competition, rescue services and scientific field. Equally important will be to present team’s project which will be also rewarded by additional points.
Sample tasks, which rovers will be expected to do during the contest were presented at the presentation of the Magma White Rover in Poland. It is a commercial descendant of the polish rovers made by students. During the presentation, the Magma White Rover was remotely controlled by children from Poland and India. It was possible thanks to the controlling system ABM Ro-Co, developed by ABM System Education. ABM Ro-Co is adapted to the Internet connection and integrated with control center which will be shared with the participating teams during one of the tasks included in the contest.
Having pleasure to organize European Rover Challenge in Poland we are aware of distinction for Poland, which have just entered the ESA as well as having the opportunity to self development of young , gifted and ambitious student teams – said Lukasz Wilczynski, spokesman of the Mars Society Polska. He also mentioned that some teams from Europe have already expressed preliminary interest in participating in the contest.
This time cooperation will be broader. Despite scientific and students’ projects, We prepared an educational component for children. We will held classes and courses for children, which aim at encouraging the youngest kids to unravel the secrets of the universe Right now, we are at the stage of organization. We are looking for a perfect place and starting negotiations with potential sponsors to this prestigious event says Mariusz Józefowicz – president of the Mars Society in Poland.
We are able to held European Rover Challenge thanks to cooperation of The Mars Society in Poland, ABM Space Education and The Austrian Space Forum. So far, The Mars Society in Poland cooperating with The Austrian Space Forum have organized tests of The Magma White Rover in The Dachsteins in Austria and on the Moroccan Sahara desert in the project called Mars 2013. Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research also support the project called Magma Laser which aim is to develop the detector of microorganisms called L.I.F.E. The detector is installed on The Magma White Rover and designed to work in the Arctic but in the future also to use it while exploring the other planets.
For January 2014, the organizers are also planning a series of meetings with students and potential sponsors of teams in many Polish cities in order to encourage them to participate in the competition.