Redundant by design, autonomous by ambition — Hypersonic conquers Mars terrain
Hypersonic is BRACU Mongol-Tori's 2025 University Rover Challenge entry, a rocker-bogie suspension rover built around innovation, redundancy, and modular design. It pairs a 6-DOF manipulator and swappable end effectors with a ROS2 Humble software stack, dual-IMU RTK autonomy, and a frequency-hopping redundant communication system. The iteration is notable for a partial mechanical/control/autonomous redesign, a clip-on autonomous keyboard-typing arm, and a custom point-cloud path planner.
A clip-on 2-DOF manipulator attaches only for Equipment Servicing and uses fixed-camera machine vision calibrated to keyboard reference markers, navigating each key via inverse kinematics to type autonomously.
A custom path-planning algorithm uses a point-cloud map of the environment to estimate terrain elevation and compute the shortest path, paired with a decision-tree global/local planner for dynamic obstacle avoidance.
A redundant point-to-point communication system with frequency hopping and load balancing across 900MHz P900, 5GHz airMAX, and Walksnail FPV keeps rover-to-base links uninterrupted under interference.
An SBG Ellipse-D tactical INS with dual-antenna DGNSS/RTK delivers centimeter positioning and 0.2° heading, backed by a Witmotion HWT905 secondary IMU to eliminate magnetometer drift.
A segmented chassis with a flipping mechanism separates controls from electronics for maintenance, while swappable grippers — adaptive TPU claw and excavator claw — reconfigure the rover per mission.
Every discipline on the team owns a slice of the machine. Here is how each one comes together.
A partially redesigned mechanical system built on a rocker-bogie suspension with an advanced arched base support for stability on steep and rocky terrain. The segmented chassis assembles and disassembles per mission and integrates a flipping mechanism that separates controls and electronics for easier maintenance.
Power is delivered by three hot-swappable 18V 9Ah lithium-ion batteries through a Power Distribution Board, driving wheels and arm via stacked Cytron motor drivers with onboard power monitoring. Safety features include a red kill switch with reverse polarity protection.
Hypersonic runs ROS2 Humble for teleoperation and autonomous navigation, using mission-specific packages communicating over MAVLink. Alternating GNSS modules and swappable industry-grade INS units mitigate weather-related location errors and magnetometer drift, with a homebrewed GUI for status monitoring.
A redundant point-to-point communication system with frequency hopping and load balancing links rover and base station. It combines 900MHz Holybro P900 telemetry, a 5GHz Ubiquiti airMAX router, and a Walksnail Avatar HD FPV kit, with vision handled by 8 analog cameras and a Logitech webcam streamed via RTSP.
Autonomous navigation is built on a custom decision tree taking GNSS goals as input and switching between path planning, navigating, searching, and arrival. A custom point-cloud path planner determines terrain elevation for shortest paths, while dual ZED 2i cameras and YOLO models handle object and ArUco detection.
The science module collects soil samples and performs onboard Nitrogen and Carbon detection via Molisch's reagent, Ninhydrin, and UV-C analysis to detect extinct, extant, and fossilized life. An excavator claw extracts samples from 15 cm deep into contamination-proof funnels and a detachable cache box.
How this rover is engineered to score across every University Rover Challenge task.
The rover finds and picks up objects, reads signs, and delivers samples across adverse terrain. A TPU-based 3D-printed adaptive end effector grips tools, rocks, and lids over 5 kg and objects longer than 7.5 cm, storing samples in a cache box. The legacy linear-actuator omni-wheel mechanism was removed to improve stability and deployment time.
The 6-DOF manipulator performs maintenance on the mock-up lander, with a dedicated servo-based mini-arm enabling autonomous keyboard typing via a motorized rail and solenoid. The rover picks and places cache, inserts/removes USB-A, pushes buttons, flips switches, operates joysticks via base rotation, and turns knobs with a bevel gear — completing tasks within 30 minutes over 0.25 km.
A custom decision-tree navigation system takes GNSS goals and switches between path planning, navigating, searching, and arrival. A point-cloud path planner finds shortest paths over terrain; dual ZED 2i cameras stitch a 200° FOV for ArUco detection, with a square spiral search fallback and YOLO-based object detection of mallets and bottles.
The rover collects soil from sites and runs onboard Molisch's, Ninhydrin, and UV-C tests to detect Nitrogen and Carbon biosignatures. Subsurface site selection uses geological cues and an NPK sensor; an excavator claw extracts 15 cm-deep samples into a contamination-proof detachable cache, with panoramic imaging and atmospheric sensors supporting on-site geological validation.
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