Contact: Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776

For immediate release:
March 22, 2002

Carnegie Mellon Students Create a Robot to Emulate Work and Results of the Recent Mars Rover Excursion

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University Mechanical Engineering students will compete in a campus competition designed to test their skills in remote robotic control. The students, under the direction of Associate Professor Howie Choset, will simulate the challenges and problems faced when unmanned robotic probes were sent to Mars. The students will be graded on their ability to land, control and navigate their robots via computers programmed with topographical maps and data from previous unmanned Mars missions.

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 27, 2002.
WHERE: Carnegie Mellon University/Rangos Hall, Pittsburgh, Pa.