Just days after celebrating Marquette’s Commencement weekend, a team of engineering students set out to face a challenge that could test even the world’s top engineers: piloting their own robot across a simulated lunar surface while being assessed by NASA.
At the invitation of NASA, it was an opportunity to showcase the team’s work on a national stage and apply the culmination of their Marquette educations to a worthy challenge.
As part of the senior design capstone course in Marquette’s Opus College of Engineering, a team of nine engineering students and one computer science student collaborated for two semesters to compete in NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition. This annual competition challenges student teams to design and build a prototype off-world construction robot capable of performing construction operations that support future space exploration objectives.
Throughout the academic year, the team worked together to design, construct and test a robot that met specifications set forth by NASA’s competition as well as Marquette’s own capstone course. Guided by faculty advisor Dr. Philip Voglewede, professor of mechanical engineering, the team worked to tackle each step of the project and earn one of the limited invitations from NASA to present their work at the in-person competition in May.
The team’s final course presentation on May 2 at Marquette’s Design Day was critical to complete their degrees, but by that point, their eyes were already set on the nationwide challenge ahead.
From one arena to the next
Just a few days after team members crossed the stage at Fiserv Forum in caps and gowns, the team and their robot departed for Florida ready to compete. Despite the fanfare and well-deserved recognition at Commencement, the students still had a fire to finish what they had started.
The in-person challenge tasked students to pilot their robot across a simulated lunar field and construct a soil embankment using the robot’s attached tools, all to be completed remotely from a separate control room with a limited camera feed.
The team’s work in Milwaukee had gotten them this far, but their design struggled across the new powdery competition surface that they could only partially simulate back on campus.
On the initial run, multiple mechanical and electrical problems stunted the robot’s movement across the field.
“These early setbacks hit our team hard. Going into our first run, nerves were at an all-time high,” said team captain Oscar Hernandez, a mechanical engineering major now preparing to work at Boeing.
Their first run left them with a long list of challenges to address, and according to Voglewede, this is where the real value of their Marquette education rose to the occasion.
An engineering team transformed
The initial failure could have left another team of engineers dejected, divided and defeated. But Marquette’s team rallied. The fire that had gotten them to Florida was still burning, and they looked to each other for more fuel.
“My team was my biggest motivator to keep pushing through the technical changes and give us a fighting chance at a successful second run,” said Maisie Mische, a mechanical engineering major now starting her career at Milwaukee Tool. “Every person on the team worked so hard and dedicated so much time to the project, and knowing the value of their hard work, I didn’t want to let them down.”
Their free hours were spent working in shifts to tackle each problem and prepare for an improved competition run ahead. The robot was partially deconstructed and reconstructed for better performance. Plans were made for as many possible piloting challenges as they could predict. Most importantly, the team worked in sync to improve their communication and raise their confidence to tackle any obstacles in their way. They even found themselves lending support to a neighboring student team, a spare Marquette tool making its way to the hands of another school tackling similar mid-competition modifications.
Marquette returned for their next competition run blaring AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, the anthem of Marquette Athletics home games, from their truck. Clad in their own Marquette Aerospace and Robotic Systems uniforms, the team and their robot entered the competition venue ready to face the moon. “We Are Marquette” rang out from their pre-run huddle.
“The challenges we’d faced throughout the school year had prepared us for this exact kind of moment,” said Hernandez.
The robot that previously puttered across the field now trudged toward the target, and the pilot team calmly mastered the controls from a camera feed. The first embankment attempt was, in Voglewede’s words, tiny. But it was there, and the team erupted at the sight of their success. The next embankment was larger, and so was the roar from the team.
“When the robot started working, it felt amazing. Sharing that with teammates I’d worked so closely with was incredibly rewarding,” said Cameron Davila, an electrical engineering major now serving as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. “We had all struggled through the same late nights and challenges, and seeing things come together reminded me just how far we’d come.”
The team awaits their full scoring from NASA, but with the top scoring teams and awards already announced without mention of Marquette, they know they are ranked lower than they had hoped for before the competition. For the team, those scores still matter, but in the bigger picture of their growth as engineers and leaders, they had moved mountains.
Contributing to a legacy of growth and success
This year marked the seventh Marquette team to compete in NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition. Each year, a new robot emerges from the hands of a fresh team of engineering students eager to learn and grow together. From Voglewede’s perspective, there is a trail of ideas, successes and failures that each team can build upon. He leaves it to the students to consider this hand-off of knowledge and grapple with their place in a broader engineering project.
“I’m documenting feedback because I want the next team to go further than we did. It’s one way to honor the work we were blessed to do this year,” said Davila.
Voglewede sees something distinct to Marquette about this year-to-year project and each team’s opportunity to lead.
“There is something different about the culture we build with students here at Marquette. We challenge them to see a bigger picture of their education and impact, as individuals and as a broader community,” Voglewede says. “It echoes what we hear from Coach Shaka Smart about ‘Relationships. Growth. Victory.’ There is a bigger definition of success at stake, and students can all play a role in making a difference by how they grow and work together.”
The team’s success is made possible by generous sponsors and supporters: the Ramirez Family Foundation, Husco Inc., Komatsu, the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium, Hernandez Family Construction LLC, El Rey Foods, J. Mercado Agency, Inc. American Family Insurance, and FRC Team 1732 Hilltopper Robotics. A volunteer industry mentor, Stephen Cash, Eng ’93, also supported the student team throughout their 2024-25 project.
