Founding semester — registration open
Autonomous ground robotics, built to work with no map, no GPS, and no second try.
Texas Rover Lab is a new student club for competitive field robotics — autonomous terrain traversal and long-range teleoperated manipulation, built from the ground up.
The problem
Our rover has to cross rough, unmapped natural terrain without GPS — building its own understanding of the ground beneath it in real time. Once it's there, an operator controls a manipulator arm over a long-range wireless link, with the terrain itself working against signal and latency.
It's a full-stack robotics problem: perception, planning, RF engineering, mechanical design, and control all have to work together, and all of it has to hold up in the field on the first attempt.
Subsystems
4 subsystem leads are still open.
Communications
Link budget, antenna selection, latency under load at range over uneven ground — with an eye toward an aerial repeater for non-line-of-sight comms.
Manipulation
Arm kinematics, control, and the teleoperation interface an operator relies on in the field.
Chassis & drivetrain
Chassis, hardware enclosures, powertrain, suspension, and steering — CAD, 3D printing, FEA, and manufacturing.
Autonomy & software
Localization, sensor fusion, and traversal planning — architecting the full autonomy stack.
Power systems & PCB
Power distribution, custom PCBs, and onboard electronics integration.
Business
Sponsorships, budget, and outside partnerships that keep the team funded and supplied.
Marketing & social
Own how the team shows up publicly — event coverage, sponsor-facing materials, social presence, recruiting.
Want in?
You don't need competition experience. You need to want to build something that has to work in the unknown, on the first try. Reach out and we'll talk through what any of it involves.