Yale Undergraduate Robotics · Flagship Project
Welcome to the team.
Let’s go build Yale’s Exploration Rover and win internationally. :)
First standup. Saturday, September 19, 2026. CEID Lecture Hall.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
01
Today
There’s a few things we need to take care of before we get to building:
No need to take notes: this deck lives at yalerobotics.org/deck/day1.
1
Introductions
2
The mission
3
How we work
4
Subassemblies
5
Sign-ups and planning
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
02
Admin board
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
03
Your turn
New friends!
Ann Song
Kaitlyn Zhang
Aadi Nair
Lucas Castillo Degracia
Michael Xu
Michelle Liu
Powell Munro Holzner
Richard Shan
Brier Hehmeyer
Marcus Wong
Alex Berman
Angela Zhao
Wolfgang Mannix
James Lu
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
04
The mission
University Rover Challenge 2027.
The Mars Society invites top college teams to simulated Martian terrain at the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, Utah. Late May 2027. 30+ finalists, four days of competition, four missions.
Mission 1
Science
Drive to sites the judges pick, collect soil and rock samples, run life-detection chemistry on them onboard in the field, then defend the findings to a panel of scientists.
Mission 2
Delivery
About a kilometer of rough desert: find objects and “astronauts” from GNSS coordinates and visual cues, picking up and delivering items along the way. Teleoperated over our own radio link, no Wi-Fi.
Mission 3
Equipment servicing
Fine-motor work in the middle of the desert: plug in a USB cable, type on a keyboard, turn screws, and more, all with the arm.
Mission 4
Autonomous navigation
The rover is sent to a series of GNSS coordinates and visual markers and has to find its own way, avoid obstacles, and signal each arrival on its own.
We put this team together to enter WIN it. We go big.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
05
The year
From today to the desert.
Today
Team formed
Pods pick their subassemblies. Radio and arm prototyping begin immediately.
October
Working prototype
Chassis and arm on the ground together. Link tested at range. First integrated drives.
November to January
Competition build
Machined parts, autonomy, science module. Demo day for the Yale community in December. The rover that goes to Utah takes shape.
February
Drills and the SAR
Fully built by early February. Then nothing but testing, drills, and recording. System Acceptance Review submitted late February.
Late May 2027
Hanksville, Utah
Mars Desert Research Station. The trip is all paid for.
Funded for the year, by SEAS, SpaceX, alumni, CT Space, and last year’s carry-over. Plus a machine shop, and partners for CAD, PCBs, and simulation.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
06
How we work
Build sessions, not meetings.
We’ve built a small team to ship quickly and avoid being a big club that purely meets on the weekend. Roughly, your week will look like this:
Every Saturday
Standup, 2 PM, CEID Lecture Hall
- Ground floor, 20 to 30 minutes, every week through May.
- The only time all ~20 of us are in one room.
- Each pod says what moved, what’s blocked, and what it needs from the others.
Weekdays
Build sessions in your pod
- At least a couple of sessions a week, an hour or more each. Bigger pods like mechanical can split into more; the point is that we’re putting in the hours.
- A lot of this can be remote. Schedule it anyway: it’s the reminder, and it keeps everyone accountable.
Ongoing
Build logs
- Each pod keeps a short log: what got done, what’s next, what’s blocked.
- So everyone can see the whole rover without a meeting.
Integration >>>>> Pods talking past each other is why rover teams fail at URC.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
07
What you get
Some perks :)
SpaceXAI
Cursor and credits
Free Cursor for the whole team, plus SpaceXAI credits to build with.
Tools
The real stack
Onshape, Altium, Siemens, and our GitHub org.
Funding and a shop
Funded for the year
SEAS, SpaceX, alumni, CT Space, and last year’s carry-over. Waterjet and machining in-house.
Utah
The trip is paid for
Four days at the Mars Desert Research Station in late May.
Red badland rock
Every team, one desert
Warsaw's HAL-062 · URC 2026
The Hab, MDRS
Photos: Sokoloff et al. 2020 (CC BY 4.0), the Mars Society (CC BY-SA 4.0), Mikołaj Stasiak (CC BY 3.0 PL), BLM Utah.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
08
The pods
Our structure: Pods
Mechanical
Body, arm, science hardware
- Chassis and structure
- Suspension and drivetrain
- The arm and end effector
- Science mechanical: sample handling and the module’s moving parts
Tyler · lead
Life detection
The science mission*
- Bio / ChemE
- Assays and sample analysis
- Pumps, fluids, sample storage
- The science defense
* Works with mechanical for the hardware it needs.
* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
Electronics
Power and boards*
- Power distribution
- PCBs
- Motor drivers
- Sensors
Filippo* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
Comms & control
The link and the controls
- The 1 km radio link
- Video and telemetry at range
- Teleoperation and control
- ROS and onboard comms
Emir · lead
Autonomy
Finding its own way
- Autonomous navigation
- Computer vision
- Machine learning
David · lead
Drone
New this year*
- Talk to Filippo if this is where you want to be
Filippo* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
09
Pod · 1 of 6
Mechanical: Body, arm, science hardware
Tyler · leadFirst standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
10
Pod · 2 of 6
Life detection: The science mission
* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
11
Pod · 3 of 6
Electronics: Power and boards
Filippo* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
12
Pod · 4 of 6
Comms and control: The link and the controls
Emir · leadFirst standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
13
Pod · 5 of 6
Autonomy: Finding its own way
David · leadFirst standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
14
Pod · 6 of 6
Drone: New this year
Filippo* Open for a new member to take on the role as lead.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
15
Sign-ups
Defining your role within the rover team
We’ll take a 5 to 10 minute break for questions, thinking, and stretching your legs, and then we’ll come back and split up into pods. Think about what you want. You can switch later, and you can (and will) work with other pods, or even be on more than one, whatever your primary pod is on paper. That’s the nature of a small team, and we know a lot of you want to get your hands dirty in areas outside your main expertise. It will happen whether you want it or not, trust us :). Everyone still needs a primary focus though. It’s like your major at Yale: you still take plenty of classes outside it (unless you’re STEM :)).
Mechanical
Chassis and structure, suspension, drivetrain, the arm, end effector, science mechanical
Life detection
Pumps and fluids, sample storage, sample analysis, the science defense
Electronics
Power distribution, PCBs, motor drivers, sensors
Comms & control
Radio link, video and telemetry, teleoperation and control, ROS
Autonomy
Navigation, computer vision, machine learning
Drone
New this year, scope set with the pod
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
16
For Yale 💙🤍, for us!
Let’s build something meaningful together.
Every team, one desert
The Hab, MDRS
URC 2026
Factory Butte, Utah
This deck: yalerobotics.org/deck/day1. The kickoff deck: yalerobotics.org/deck.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
17
Before we split up
A few notes.
Async
Async + Loom
Record it, send it, keep moving.
Agility
Messages + communication
WhatsApp, quick and constant. The lean startup approach.
We are one
Show up for each other
When someone doesn’t show up for the others, we all suffer, and the whole mission suffers.
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
18
RoverOS
yalerobotics.org/os
First standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
19
The rest of today
Remainder of the time: we’ll split up into pods.
TylerFilippoFilippoEmirDavidFilippoFirst standup · Sat Sep 19, 2026
20