CESAR systemIROS publication

The Challenge is over, now it is time to write a paper. Therefore we need some aditional data from the robot. So we went to a gravel plant to get these detailed informations on different terrains and inclines.

Lets go, CESAR ( click to enlarge )

As you can see it was very cold!

Our operator is freezing. ( click to enlarge )

Well, CESAR did a great job, he managed most of the different terrains easily.

CESAR on top of the world. ( click to enlarge )

CESAR also fell down on one hill...

CESAR falling. OH NO! ( click to enlarge )

...but he tumbeled down, landed on his feet and directly was ready to reclimb it.

CESAR is a very robust system! ( click to enlarge )

Finally! After over a month of shipping the 6 CESAR-boxes are back at the DFKI in Bremen. Joel and Felix reassembled the robots mechanics yesterday and Michael and I cleared most of the boxes today. After that I set up Schlupp and checked the system. CESAR has survived the trip! I could not test the video-stuff and the repeater but the electronic inside the robot and the communication with Schlupp are working fine.

Finally back at home ( click to enlarge )

And here for you to enjoy a best of video with our own video material compiled by mechano-mastermind Felix. I've heard Oulu has good material of our bot too. So stay tuned ...

We still can not believe it, but as it looks like we really won the first ESA Lunar Robotics Challenge!

a small pricing ceremony in the hotel. Felix had to leave earlier so he is not there ( click to enlarge )

Great thanks to everyone from the University and the DFKI who helped us. This would not be possible without your support!

Sorry to all the readers that we update our blog just now, but the new semester started last week, while we were on Tenerife, so we had to create our time-schedule, visit lectures and of course celebrated a bit... besides that we have over 2400 files of photo and video material that has to be reviewed, cutted and filtered. Of course we can (and want) to show you all the stuff we brought back but I think it is the best to show you only some selected shots.



Ok, as I said there is a lot of stuff to show you. I will skip the first days (where we already wrote something about) and start directly with photos from thursday, the day of the first night trial.

Before the night trial we had the opportunity to take a first look at the sample.

Sebastian and me observing the sample. ( click to enlarge )

Also we tried the repeater during the day:

the repeater blinking and repeating video and command signals. ( click to enlarge )

Here you can get a small impression from inside our truck. As you can see there is not that much space in it so we had to attend not to mess up the place to much, which was not easy...

Hi Mehmed! ( click to enlarge )


This is what I call organized chaos ( click to enlarge )

During the night we cover our truck with a plane that we brought from germany. Thanks to Thilo who forseight that we need one.

lets go camping. ( click to enlarge )

Time was running out. The challenge came closer and the ToDo-List growed. We filled up 3 of these charts. These todo lists are not empty now, so there is still something to do when CESAR arrives back in Bremen.

Still some "minor" things to do... ( click to enlarge )

But we made progress and so CESAR was ready for his first night trial.

CESAR is ready ( click to enlarge )

Here comes our hero. He leaves the truck for a small walk...

GO CESAR! ( click to enlarge )

...while we saw the world through his eye. And what we saw was the proof that the man in the moon exists... and he takes pictures of our CESAR.

CESAR really is a rockstar. ( click to enlarge )

Our lander-pc had a monitor that showed a live image that the operator of the robot also sees on his screen. On a real moon-mission this pc would be very small, embedded into the "lander" and without a monitor. But as time was running out I did not managed to write a small start script that starts everything automatically. So I had to start some small scripts as we set up the lander on its start-position. Therefore we needed a keyboard and a monitor on the lander. Nice, unplaned side-effect of this was that the people who stand on the crater rim to watch CESAR could see something when we turned out the light to see with the infrared camera.

Thilo got some important operator training.

Thilo was very conenctrated controlling the robot. ( click to enlarge )

Also most of the other teams were working on their robots during the night. Some locked themselves inside the truck. I think only the Finnish team left early that day.

The site at night. Dark and cold. Just take a picture and than back to the truck ( click to enlarge )

So much for now. Stay tuned for more stuff from CESAR and his triumphal ride.