ZERO
What is Zero Robotics?
Zero Robotics is a programming competition, hosted by MIT in collaboration with NASA, in which teams program robots that function in the zero gravity environment of the International Space Station. Plasma was selected as one of 20 teams from over 200 applicants from across the nation to participate in Zero’s inaugural year.
Conveniently, the Zero robotics season runs during the FRC off-season, during first semester.
What does the competition involve?
Teams compete by programming a SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) satellite to achieve the year’s game objectives while competing or collaborating with other teams. These satellites try to collect the most points during matches to read finals. Due to the short duration of the game teams have to carefully plan and hold efficiency over all other objectives. The programs are autonomous – students do not control the satellites during the game. The tournament progresses in phases from 2D to 3D. For the finals, the top eight alliances of three robots each submit code which will be uploaded to SPHERES that will run in the ISS (International Space Station) in January (usually) of the competition season. NASA astronauts conduct this part of the competition while the final teams watch from a viewing station at MIT.
One of the most interesting parts of the competition is that every scenario that is assigned to teams has a “real-life” application. NASA actually keeps record of the code, in case they need to use it as a reference/ a starting point for a product!
2019-2020 Update
The Zero Robotics High School Tournament is taking a “Gap Year”. It is moving to a new Free Flyer platform on ISS. The competition will resume in 2020!
The SPHERES are Retiring!
In 2019 the Zero Robotics competition celebrated 10 years of operation on the SPHERES satellites. The SPHERES satellites have been supporting a wide range of research on ISS since 2006 as one of the most utilized and popular experiments on station with over 500 hours of astronaut time to date. Over this time technology has advanced and the SPHERES hardware is showing signs of wear so it is time for the SPHERES to be decommission and retired.
NASA has developed a new Free Flyer called Astrobee. The Astrobee robots are cube shaped (1ft3), use electric fans as a propulsion system and cameras and sensors to navigate their surroundings.
The three Astrobees developed to date are named Honey, Queen and Bumble. More information about Astrobee is available on the NASA site: https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee
Astrobee introductory video: Video Link
Work has begun to transition the Zero Robotics competition to the Astrobee Free Flyers. The High School Tournament is currently planned to resume on Astrobee in the fall of 2020.
© 2014