BRAC University team at NASA’s Robotics Competition

A team from the School of Engineering and Computer Science of BRAC University has made history for the country participating in a NASA Robotic Competition for the first time. After 3 rounds of selection, the eight-member team has been accepted to compete at the NASA’s Annual Lunabotics Mining Competition (LMC) 2011. The team members are Dr. Md. Khalilur Rhaman (Faculty Advisor), assistant professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shiblee Imtiaz Hasan (Team Leader), Mohammad Jonayet Hossain, Mahmudul Hasan Oyon and Kazi Mohammad Razin Anik, Imran Bin Jafar, Iftekhar Karim and Nirjhar Rouf. The prestigious event will take place at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, the birthplace of NASA`s human space flights, on May 23-28. LMC is a university-level competition designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). NASA will directly benefit from the competition by encouraging the development of innovative lunar excavation concepts from universities that may result in clever ideas and solutions, which could be applied, to an actual lunar excavation device or payload. Top 46 teams from all around the world are participating in the LMC, including Harvard University, Virginia Tech, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and McGill University. BRAC University is the first Bangladeshi team to participate in such an event. Chairperson of BRAC Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG, and Vice-chancellor of BRAC University Prof. Ainun Nishat inaugurated the BRACU ChondroBot Sunday at BRAC University Indoor Games Room. Speaking as chief guest, Fazle Hasan Abed congratulated the students and expressed hope that Bangladesh would go forward with the achievement of the new generation. During the demonstration, team leader Shiblee said, “We analyzed past success and failures of others and was able to design a simple, yet efficient and reliable, tele-robotic system for lunar excavation. And hopeful about bringing success for our country.” Directors of the university as well as Chairpersons of different departments were present among the guests. It all started in October, 2010, when NASA approved BRAC University’s entry, designed by Shiblee Imtiaz Hasan, a BRACU CSE student and a recipient of many national and international awards. The whole robot has been made with reused parts from different places, making a positive impact for the environment at the same time.