Caterpillar Sponsors Seventh Annual NASA Robotic Mining Competition12.07.2016 9.00
On May 18-20, the seventh annual NASA Robotic Mining Competition was held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. More than 45 university-level teams designed and built remote controlled mining robots to traverse a simulated Martian terrain. The competition, designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, provides a competitive environment to foster innovative ideas and solutions that could potentially be used on NASA’s journey to Mars. Caterpillar has a rich history of technical innovation and in order to sustain our long term competitive advantage, we need to continually focus on building a sustainable talent pipeline. By supporting STEM initiatives such as the NASA Robotic Mining Competition, we are helping to inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists. With over 10,000 engineers and technical experts developing innovative solutions for our customers, it is key to identify critical skills and key sources for talent. Eric Reiners, a program manager for automation and enterprise solutions at Caterpillar, attended the competition and stated, “The teams involved in the competition are multi-disciplinary and passionate about applying their classroom education in a hands-on environment. These are exactly the type of individuals Caterpillar needs in order to continue to meet our customers’ needs in a rapidly changing world.” This year, Caterpillar brought its Command for Dozing Operator Station (a long distance, semi-autonomous remote control system) giving students the opportunity to remotely operate a Cat® D10T track-type tractor located at the Tucson Proving Grounds in Arizona. To view a full list of competition award winners, click here. |
