Zero Robotics competition lets kids “touch space” By Alvar Saenz-Otero, Jacob G Katz, and David W Miller
Many of us with a love for aerospace can testify that, as children, we dreamt about one day working in space. Through Zero Robotics, that day is today.
The U.S. Congress designated the International Space Station a National Laboratory in 2010, expanding its roles for society and enhancing the ability to use the ISS for educational objectives.
AeroAstro’s Space Systems Laboratory created Zero Robotics to enable middle and high school student participation in the science conducted aboard the ISS. The program uses the SPHERES microsatellites aboard the ISS. SHPERES are an MIT AeroAstro project that started in 1999 as part of the department’s Capstone Class, a class where students employ the conceive, design, implement, and operate skills they’ve learned in their time in AeroAstro. Zero Robotics specifically promotes interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or, as it’s popularly known, STEM. The program is based on the successful history of the FIRST Robotics international high school robotics competition, where students build hardware robots controlled by humans. Zero Robotics is a complement to FIRST, since ZR opens development of SPHERES software algorithms that run autonomously.
Not just a game “Zero Robotics is not just a game, it’s a challenge to learn new things, to form teams, to find creative engineering solutions … [to] encourage you [students] to follow your dreams,” astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, AeroAstro PhD ’92, said in introducing the program from aboard the International Space Station. Zero Robotics is a tournament that consists of four main stages: (1) run
Zero robotics competition lets kids “touch space”
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