“This project has elements in mechanical assembly/fabrication, uses a host of electrical components, and has software that will run it all. In order to complete this project, you will need to have some experience in the following:

  • Fabrication/Machining: Although most the parts are COTS there are a few modifications necessary to adapt them to the project. These modifications will be in the form of
    • Metal cutting using band saw/dremel
    • Drilling using drill press/hand drill
    • Filing and sanding for part cleanup
    • General Fabrication/Machining Safety
  • Electronics: This project uses components like motors, motor controllers, and batteries. It will be important to have experience with the following electrical processes.
    • Soldering
    • Electrical debugging
    • Wiring
    • Electrical Safety
  • Software: The rover’s brain is a Raspberry Pi. Included in this repository is all the software ready to run the rover, but some knowledge is required for getting everything up and ready on the Raspberry Pi:
    • Basic Linux familarity
    • Basic Python familarity

Most of the above are skills that you can learn and pick up fairly quickly from watching videos and doing research on the internet, and throughout the project we try to give supplemental information on some of these as well. See the build documents for more information.

Tools Necessary

This project assumes you have some standard tools to help assemble the project. If you do not have any of the optional tools, we provide examples of online services that you can use to have the parts fabricated and sent to you.

Mandatory tools

  • SAE Hex Key set
  • SAE Wrench set
  • Pliers
  • Wire Snips
  • Wire Strippers
  • Solder Iron
  • Solder
  • Digital Multimeter
  • Hand Drill or Drill Press
  • Dremel, Band saw, or hand saw
  • Items for operating a Raspberry Pi (Keyboard, mouse, monitor, 5V micro USB power adapter)

Optional Tools

  • 3D printer
  • Laser Cutter
  • Power Supply (to test without using battery)

Expected time commitment

In our experience, this project takes no less than 200 person-hours to build, and depending on the familarity and skill level of those involved could be significantly more. Experienced builders may be able to build this project in this amount of time. However, this project is generally meant to be a teaching and learning tool. Throughout the documentation, we try to give supplemental information for those who might be new to this kind of project.”