TAMIU engineering students traveled to Florida in May
and competed in a highly selective robotics competition.
A total of 17 students in the TAMIU Systems
Engineering classes participated in the 2015 NASA Robotic
Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center.
TAMIU, which was represented by its “DustyTRON
Robotics Team,” was one of three universities in Texas to
participate in the competition, said Dr.Tariq Tashtoush,
TAMIU assistant professor of engineering.
“The competition’s goal is to encourage university-
level students, especially engineering students, to design
and build a mining robot that can navigate a simulated
Martian chaotic terrain, excavate Martian regolith, a layer
of unconsolidated rocky material, and deposit it into a
collector bin within 10 minutes,” explained Dr.Tashtoush.
The DustyTRON Robotics Team was split into two
sub-teams, with one team responsible for the software,
programming and controllers while the other works on
hardware, chassis and mechanical structure design for the
final robot,Tashtoush said.
TAMIU DustyTRON Robotics Team
Competed at NASA’s Robotics Competition
DustyTRON
Robotics Team members
included Daniel Alfaro,
Andres Aranguren,
Brandon Charlton,
Homero De La Cruz,
Javier Delgado,Tomas
Duarte, Gabriel Flores,
Edgar Garza, José
Guajardo, Dagoberto
Melero, Salvador Méndez, Esteban Otero, Gustavo Pérez,
Patricio Rodríguez, AlejandroTorres, RobertoTorres and
Jesús Vázquez.
Generous support for the Team’s participation in the
Competition came from the City of Laredo, the A. R. “Tony”
and Maria J. Sanchez Family Foundation, American Campus
Communities, Modine Manufacturing, AEP, BTS Group,
ContinuumTransportation Services LTD, Enterprise Rent-
A-Car Company of Texas, Global Tooling Specialties, Inc.,
Terracon and others.
12
