Rover Profile/ 2026★ Current Flagship

Taurus

Lighter, cooler, CAN-smart: a rocker-bogie rover engineered for Mars terrain

Drive: Four-wheel rocker-bogie
Arm: 7-DOF
Payload: Lifts >5 kg; grips objects >7.5 cm
Autonomy: ROS2 Humble, Differential GNSS RTK, ZED 2i

Watch SAR Video CompetitionLEAD // Md Rafid Khan

Scroll

Mission Brief

Taurus is BRACU Mongol-Tori's 2026 University Rover Challenge entry, a ground-up redesign of the 2025 Hypersonic rover that retains only the original chassis. It pairs a lighter four-wheel rocker-bogie suspension built from carbon fiber and in-house aluminum extrusion with a CAN-bus distributed control network, a 7-DOF manipulator, and a ROS2-based autonomy stack. Over a nine-month cycle the team advanced the rover from TRL-1 to TRL-5, addressing prior weaknesses in stability, RF reliability, and thermal management.Taurus is BRACU Mongol-Tori's 2026 University Rover Challenge entry, a ground-up redesign of the 2025 Hypersonic rover that retains only the original chassis. It pairs a lighter four-wheel rocker-bogie suspension built from carbon fiber and in-house aluminum extrusion with a CAN-bus distributed control network, a 7-DOF manipulator, and a ROS2-based autonomy stack. Over a nine-month cycle the team advanced the rover from TRL-1 to TRL-5, addressing prior weaknesses in stability, RF reliability, and thermal management.

Spec SheetDWG taurus-2026-2026

Competition: URC 2026
Venue: Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)
Result: #7 of 116
Year: 2026
Team Lead: Md Rafid Khan

01 / What Makes It New

6 breakthroughs that define Taurus

01
Innovation
Kachhim CAN-bus controller
A custom in-house ESP32-based, CAN-enabled controller in a small form factor drives all actuators, with distributed modules running PID locally to cut main-controller computational load.
02
Innovation
Reengineered IK with magnetic encoders
Inverse Kinematics was rebuilt using AS5600 magnetic encoders instead of potentiometers for more precise angular feedback, operating in Full Manual, Full IK, and IK Assisted modes.
03
Innovation
Frequency-diversity RF system
Radios auto load-balance and shift between 5GHz and 2.4GHz by RSSI, with 433MHz and 900MHz mission-control diversity, delivering reliable control up to 3.3 km at Non-Line-of-Sight.
04
Innovation
MT-RTN rough-terrain navigation
A hierarchical state-machine planner pairs a GNSS global planner with a ZED 2i 3D point-cloud costmap local planner, validated in a custom Unity digital-twin simulator.
05
Innovation
Dual end-effector with autonomous typing
An independent pitch/roll dual end-effector enables seamless switching between teleoperation and an autonomous keyboard-typing precision clicker using closed-loop camera feedback.
06
Innovation
Stability-focused rocker-bogie redesign
A four-wheel rocker-bogie suspension in carbon fiber and aluminum lowers the center of gravity to fix prior autonomous-mission tipping, with a truss enclosure for thermal endurance.

02 / Engineering

Built subsystem by subsystem

Every discipline on the team owns a slice of the machine. Here is how each one comes together.

SYS.01Mechanical

01Subsystem

Mechanical

A complete SOLIDWORKS redesign of Hypersonic into the lighter, more compact Taurus, keeping only the original chassis. A four-wheel rocker-bogie suspension lowers the center of gravity for stability on slopes and rocky terrain, with a truss enclosure for rigidity and thermal endurance at MDRS.

Four-wheel rocker-bogie suspension with carbon fiber hollow tubes and in-house aluminum extrusion
Truss-based avionics enclosure for structural rigidity and thermal endurance
Quick assemble/disassemble chassis with future omni-wheel module interfaces
7-DOF manipulator plus linear rail for ESM precision tasks
myActuator X4-36 end effector motor for high-torque pitch control, lifting 5 kg payload
Clip-on 2-DOF autonomous keyboard-typing manipulator; excavator claw swap for Science Mission
FEA and topological optimization in Ansys before manufacturing

SYS.02Controls

02Subsystem

Controls & Software

A two-tier architecture splits a High-Level Control System (planning, reasoning, perception) from a Low-Level Control System running on a custom CAN-enabled ESP32 controller named Kachhim. Inverse Kinematics was reengineered with magnetic encoders and distributed PID to cut computational load.

Custom CAN-enabled ESP32 controller 'Kachhim' in a small form factor controls all actuators
FreeRTOS-based rover control firmware with PID velocity control (Kp, Ki, Kd tuned)
IK reengineered using AS5600 magnetic encoders instead of potentiometers
Distributed CAN modules read data and run PID locally, reducing main controller load
Three IK modes: Full Manual, Full IK, IK Assisted
ROS2 Humble + Python HLCS with Mission Specific and Common Control Packages
Redesigned GUI with 3D arm visualization, camera feeds, direct IK input, kill command, mode switching

SYS.03Electronics

03Subsystem

Electronics

Built on hot-swappable 18V 9Ah Li-ion batteries, the power system introduces multiple isolated voltage rails to eliminate voltage sag and isolate RF-sensitive components. Hardware reverse-polarity protection and a physical kill switch provide fail-safe operation.

Hot-swappable 18V 9Ah lithium-ion batteries with multiple isolated voltage rails
Rails for 12V/24V comms, 19.5V Jetson, 5V logic
Two 60A Cytron MDDS60 bi-directional drivers for wheels/arm motors
Four dual-channel 10A Cytron MDDS10 drivers
Independent powering of control and hardware stacks to prevent outage faults
Hardware reverse-polarity protection circuit and physical kill switch

SYS.04Network

04Subsystem

Network & Vision

After prior 5GHz radio failures during Delivery Mission, the team introduced frequency diversity with automatic RSSI-based load balancing across multiple bands, plus a custom in-house digital FPV failsafe. Reliable mission control was achieved up to 3.3 km in Non-Line-of-Sight scenarios.

5GHz Ubiquiti airMAX AC Lite with 13dBi AMO-5G13 omni antenna, auto-shift to 2.4GHz Ubiquiti AC Bullet by RSSI
433MHz SATELLINE EASy (70cm band) and 900MHz Microhard P900 telemetry with 12dBi antennas
Reliable mission control up to 3.3 km NLoS; custom directional/omni antennas built with CompleTech
ProLink Interactive UPS giving 4 hours backup with real-time power monitoring
8 analog cameras plus in-house digital FPV using SSC338Q camera with OpenIPC firmware
RTL8812eu NIC with wfb-ng 802.11 datalink to reduce packet drops

SYS.05Autonomous

05Subsystem

Autonomy

The autonomy stack uses Differential GNSS with RTK and a ZED 2i stereo camera for the MT-RTN (Mongol-Tori Rough Terrain Navigation) planner, a hierarchical state machine combining a GNSS global planner with a vision-based local planner. Object detection blends ArUco markers with custom YOLO11n models, all validated in a Unity digital-twin simulator.

Differential GNSS with RTK plus 110-degree FOV ZED 2i stereo camera for depth
MT-RTN planner: GNSS global waypoint planner + local 3D point-cloud costmap
Local planner sweeps headings -60 to +60 degrees, biases toward goal
OpenCV ArUco detection + three custom-trained YOLO11n models for hammers/bottle
SBG Ellipse-D GNSS and Witmotion WT905 IMU for distance/bearing; GPS accuracy monitor
Incremental rotational then square search; approaches target to 1.5 m
Custom Unity-based simulator with digital twin and physics for pre-deployment validation

SYS.06Science

06Subsystem

Science

A redesigned atmospheric module and science arm correlate in-situ sensing with onboard lab experiments to assess site habitability. Subsurface analysis uses an NPK soil sensor and auger, while life-detection runs organic-matter, electrical-conductivity, phosphate, and UV-C protein tests.

Atmospheric sensors: BME680 (temp/humidity/pressure/AQI), electrochemical O2, SCD41 CO2, VEML7700 light, UV index, PM2.5, CH4/NO2 detection
Servo-mounted high-res camera stitches panorama for stratigraphic profiling
RS485 MODBUS-RTU soil NPK sensor, interlocking soil claws and auger at 90-degree rotation
Drilling beyond 15 cm with 3D-printed load-cell cuvette under no-contamination policy
Life detection: hydrogen peroxide organic-matter test, EC test for extant life
Phosphate test by Olsen method; UV-C protein detection at 260-280 nm
Excavator claw replaces adaptive gripper during Science Mission

03 / Telemetry

The numbers behind the build

Suspension

Four-wheel rocker-bogie

Chassis

Carbon fiber hollow tubes + in-house aluminum extrusion, truss enclosure

Arm DOF

7-DOF manipulator + linear rail

Payload

Lifts >5 kg; grips objects >7.5 cm

Wheels

12-inch-diameter slotted wheels

Power

Hot-swappable 18V 9Ah Li-ion, isolated rails (5V/12V/19.5V/24V)

Comms Range

Up to 3.3 km NLoS

Compute

Nvidia Jetson Orin

Autonomy

ROS2 Humble, Differential GNSS RTK, ZED 2i

Thermal

Tested up to 55 degrees C

Parts Index // 23 components

Nvidia Jetson Orin
ZED 2i
ESP32
Kachhim CAN controller
AS5600 magnetic encoders
myActuator X4-36
ROS2 Humble
YOLO11n
OpenCV ArUco
Cytron MDDS60
Cytron MDDS10
SBG Ellipse-D
Witmotion WT905 IMU
Ubiquiti airMAX AC Lite
Microhard P900
SATELLINE EASy
SSC338Q / OpenIPC
RTL8812eu NIC
wfb-ng
BME680
SCD41
VEML7700
SparkFun ZED-F9P
Nvidia Jetson Orin
ZED 2i
ESP32
Kachhim CAN controller
AS5600 magnetic encoders
myActuator X4-36
ROS2 Humble
YOLO11n
OpenCV ArUco
Cytron MDDS60
Cytron MDDS10
SBG Ellipse-D
Witmotion WT905 IMU
Ubiquiti airMAX AC Lite
Microhard P900
SATELLINE EASy
SSC338Q / OpenIPC
RTL8812eu NIC
wfb-ng
BME680
SCD41
VEML7700
SparkFun ZED-F9P

SparkFun ZED-F9P
VEML7700
SCD41
BME680
wfb-ng
RTL8812eu NIC
SSC338Q / OpenIPC
SATELLINE EASy
Microhard P900
Ubiquiti airMAX AC Lite
Witmotion WT905 IMU
SBG Ellipse-D
Cytron MDDS10
Cytron MDDS60
OpenCV ArUco
YOLO11n
ROS2 Humble
myActuator X4-36
AS5600 magnetic encoders
Kachhim CAN controller
ESP32
ZED 2i
Nvidia Jetson Orin
SparkFun ZED-F9P
VEML7700
SCD41
BME680
wfb-ng
RTL8812eu NIC
SSC338Q / OpenIPC
SATELLINE EASy
Microhard P900
Ubiquiti airMAX AC Lite
Witmotion WT905 IMU
SBG Ellipse-D
Cytron MDDS10
Cytron MDDS60
OpenCV ArUco
YOLO11n
ROS2 Humble
myActuator X4-36
AS5600 magnetic encoders
Kachhim CAN controller
ESP32
ZED 2i
Nvidia Jetson Orin

04 / Mission Plan

Four missions, one machine

How this rover is engineered to score across every University Rover Challenge task.

01
Delivery Mission
Taurus traverses narrow marked paths and challenging terrain with a truss design that keeps internals cool (tested to 55 degrees C) and supports a cache box for sample collection and delivery. It uses 900MHz/433MHz for NLoS control, 8 cameras over 5GHz/2.4GHz, a companion drone to relay analog feeds and scout signs, and a retractable antenna mount with an antenna tracker for line of sight.
02
Equipment Servicing Mission
A dual end-effector manipulator with independent pitch and roll switches between teleoperation and autonomous keyboard typing. A linear rail and base rotation enable USB-C insertion, switch flipping, tool handling, latched-door opening, test-tube insertion, and hose connection; a precision clicker with vertical axis types keys via closed-loop camera feedback and a laser crosshair.
03
Autonomous Navigation
Taurus autonomously navigates to GPS waypoints under MT-RTN, using a GNSS global planner (SBG Ellipse-D + Witmotion WT905) with heading control and a ZED 2i slope-based costmap local planner for obstacle avoidance. At each waypoint it runs ArUco or custom YOLO detection, performs a 360-degree search if needed, and approaches targets to 1.5 m with LED-matrix status feedback.
04
Science Mission
The redesigned atmospheric and subsurface modules pair sensor readings with onboard lab experiments to prove site habitability, drilling beyond 15 cm for soil samples and running organic-matter, electrical-conductivity, phosphate, and UV-C protein life-detection tests under a no-contamination protocol.