The Rover Phoenix team from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, was selected for the United Kingdom’s University Rover Challenge (UKURC) as part of European City of Science 2016. The competition will take place in Cathedral Gardens, Manchester, United Kingdom from July 23-24. 

With a 10 year legacy of successful university rover challenges in the USA,the Mars Society is bringing this competition to United Kingdom. The competition offers unique opportunities to form connections with industries such as Airbus UK who are developing the Mars rover for the European space agency Exomar’s mission. The challenge was to design and build the next generation of Mars rovers that will one day work alongside human explorers in the field. The challenge is comprised of navigation & mobility (remotely navigate over rocky,sandy,undulating course without being in visual contact with the rover), scientific challenge (retrieve samples and perform scientific analysis and perform photographic survey) and manipulation (requires the rover to use the robotic arm to pick up items and deliver to an astronaut). 

The Rover Phoenix is a multidisciplinary Amrita team formed by a group of young and enthusiastic students of Amritapuri campus who are really passionate about Robotics. The team is comprised of students from Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science Engineering streams. The team participates in robotics competitions conducted on the national level, as well as the international level. The team focuses on using the robotics technology for SPACE exploration and humanitarian applications. Last year, the Amrita team participated in University Rover Challenge conducted by the Mars Society at Mars Desert Research Station, Hanksville, Utah, United States and secured 20th position. 

The Rover Phoenix team consists of the following members mentored by Dr. Ganesha Udupa, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Amritapuri.

1. Ragesh R (Communication System, Team Head), Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
2. Guru Prasadh JP (Media and Publicity), Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
3. Sooraj Muralidharan, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
4. Gokul Krishna V (Video Transmission), Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
5. Sagin Manoj C (Navigation System), Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
6. Harishankar KP (Robotic Arm, Control System), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
7. Sidharth Ajith (Robotic Arm), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
8. Yadhu Krishnan(Electrical ), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
9. Adithya Patteri (Electrical, Sample Analysis), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
10. Sidharth.S.Menon (Robotic Arm Design & manufacturing), Department of Mechanical Engineering
11. Vivek P (Rover Design), Department of Mechanical Engineering
12. Apu KR
    (Rover Design), Department of Mechanical Engineering
13. Hariprasad Chakkalapparampil Many ( Team Manager), Department of Mechanical Engineering
14. Rakhi R (Battery Management System), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
15. Keerthanaa KP (Battery Management System), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
16. Amrutha Sreevalsan (Battery Management System), Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
17. Maya M (Logistics, Robotics and Automation)
18. Ravi Kiran (Robotic Arm Design), Department of Mechanical Engineering