A group of students from the Fleischmann Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University initiated, designed, and built a space rover – as part of the TAUverIL project led by Prof. Yoram Reich and Danny Berko, with the aim of participating in an international competition in Poland simulating Martian surface conditions.
In a unique and first-of-its-kind project in Israeli academia, a group of undergraduate students from the Fleischmann Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University designed and built a space rover – a robotic exploration vehicle designed to operate in harsh terrain conditions that simulate the surface of Mars.
The project, called TAUverIL, was established at the initiative of a group of students and accompanied by Prof. Yoram Reich and Danny Barko, and officially opened this year at the university. To enable the activity, a dedicated laboratory was established in the School of Mechanical Engineering, where the rover was designed and built.
The initiative is open to undergraduate students from a variety of departments and schools in the Faculty of Engineering. It focuses on integrating diverse areas of knowledge: navigation systems development, control, communication, power, image processing, robotics, and mechanical design. The rover is designed to perform complex tasks including autonomous navigation, sample collection, and communication with a base station.
"Robotics competition on steroids"
Lior Koroveynikov, a double degree student in materials engineering and chemistry, initiated the project about two years ago and has been managing it ever since. He says the idea was born from the university's space lab, after he found out about an international competition in the field:
"We saw that there was an international competition for building space vehicles and there had never been an Israeli team that had registered and been accepted. We thought there was no reason why there shouldn't be such a team at the university. We discovered that there was a real desire among students to work with their hands and do projects, and this combination led me to initiate the project."
In the first year, he said, a preliminary model was built but the team was not accepted into the competition. This year, after significantly improving the systems, they are aiming for official participation in 2026.
Korobeynikov explains that the competition is taking place at the University of Krakow in Poland, on an area that simulates Martian conditions: "You can look at it as an extreme robotics competition with a space gimmick. The judges are representatives of the space industry and other guests. Ultimately, it's robotics on steroids - but for students."
The rover built by the students is already capable of traveling remotely, and in the competition will also have to function autonomously. It is equipped with a controllable robotic arm, as well as a scientific experimental setup built in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute – for measuring pH, weight, and other parameters of samples. In addition, the team built a drone as part of the required tasks.
Koroveynikov adds: "These are initial prototypes, and there is still a lot of work to do to bring them to the level required for the competition. This year, the group has about 40-45 students from a variety of fields – engineering, mathematics, computer science, biology and life sciences – from first to fourth years, and also from master's degrees. Some are doing this as a final project, and others are doing it out of pleasure and a desire to participate."
The group receives support from the university's Nanosatellite Institute and is accompanied by many mentors from industry and academia, including university graduates and key figures in the space industry.
"Many thanks to Danny Berko and the university for the support," concludes Koroveynikov.
Prof. Yoram Reich, one of the project leaders, emphasized: "I see great importance in providing our students with the opportunity for practical experience during their undergraduate degree - experience that will give them tools to deal with tasks in industry and the real world. Our project has been open for the first year and is already bearing fruit. I am very proud of our students and their products."
"Practical experience in the real world"
Danny Berko, Project Coordinator at the School of Mechanical Engineering and one of the project managers, added:
"This is the first time that an undergraduate student team at the Israeli Academy has built a space rover designed for missions to Mars. I am very happy about the opportunity this project gives our students to apply theoretical knowledge in a challenging practical project, while working as a team and developing creative solutions to real-world problems."
Danny Berko, who is accompanying the group on behalf of the School of Mechanical Engineering, describes the breadth of the project: "This is a multidisciplinary project led by almost the entire faculty – mechanical engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, industrial engineering and materials engineering. To this end, we established a dedicated laboratory, and the students came to work and build the rover."
According to him, beyond the rover itself, the competition dictates additional tasks: "They had to develop a science kit that is a mobile laboratory, a robotic arm for collecting soil samples, and an independent drone that can be launched from the rover. The project was also accompanied by mentors from industry – from the Israel Aerospace Industries and others – who provided experience and knowledge from the field."
In conclusion, Berko says that "the TAUverIL project demonstrates the ability of male and female students at an early stage of their studies to integrate into the challenges of the global space industry - and to position Tel Aviv University as a pioneer in the field of space robotics in Israeli academia."
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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Hey Itay, you should start walking with a wheelbarrow.
It's a shame to waste our wonderful talents on NASA lies that extort endless money from Americans for nothing, fake films and photos. No landings in space and no probes on Mars. Let our talents be concentrated on the wonderful State of Israel.