Owen Swischuk

Risd Rover has been competing in the NASA human exploration rover challenge for over a decade. The challenge simulates the environment that NASA Engineers were in when the moon rover was developed in the 60s, with an incomplete knowledge of the environment the vehicle will be encountering, we have to develop a vehicle capable enough to perform in a variety of conditions and anticipate what pitfalls may occur during the race. During my 3 years with the team we completely redeveloped the carbon fiber composite systems of the vehicle, from the light weight seats that supported the riders during the race to the composite wheels which we designed to flex a small amount, mimicking the padding of pneumatic tires.