18 Jul Luke Fritsche RoSE Lab Internship Week 6

Final week of the internship!

This week at the lab, we did a lot of prototyping. We continued to work on the bucket drum, but also got to start on the main subsystem I had been working on, which was the wheels. We finalized the design for the wheels and began 3D printing them. We also got a motor running for the drive train and began coding the rover. I got to assemble and test our wheels in the test bed, although unfortunately I could not go in since I am not a Mines student. I spent some time at the Labriola, which is a huge makerspace at the School of Mines, cutting out the drums using a laser cutter. We finalized the design for the wheels after multiple tests of different designs, and named the final design “Fibonnaci” because of its extra spirally shape. We made two of the Fibonnaci drums which will be used on the final rover unless the design changes. For the wheel, unfortunately the spokes did not arrive before the end of this week, however the rim and the hub were both completed. I got to do a lot of work with the massive 3D Printer in the RoSE Lab, optimizing the wheel prints to take far less time. As well as that, I worked on the CDR slides for the wheels, getting as much as I could done for them considering I was the only one working on wheels since week 2 or 3. On the last day at the lab, our team lead Hayden brought in donuts for a little going away party. Its been amazing getting to know all the people at the lab and hopefully, if I go to Mines, I can possibly work in the lab officially and work with them again. I learned a ton during this internship, about everything from working on an engineering team and presenting slides to terramechanics and solid mechanics. It’s been an incredible experience for me and I am so happy I did it.

The wheel assembly, with the rim and anchors. The spokes will come from the anchors into a central hub, but unfortunately, the spokes didn’t arrive while I was there

a small part of the woodworking space inside the Labriola, where we cut the bucket drums (which were made of acrylic)

Another space inside the Labriola

the walls of the bucket drum, inside the Labriola

Dissassembling and cleaning the wheel of regolith after the test

For the Golden side of things, we had a very fun week as well. We started off by going to all you can eat sushi in Denver, which was really good. I continued to go to the Rec center everyday, although cancelling my membership on the second to last day was a little sad considering how many times I had gone and had grown attached to it. I also biked up to the Mines “M” on the mountain near the School of Mines. Unfortunately, it was fenced off so I couldn’t get too close. Afterward, I spent some time exploring the parts of Golden I hadn’t gotten to see yet. On the final day, I got all packed up then went to Tabletop Grill with Evan, for my last dinner there. I got a massive burrito coated in queso, which was very good but extremely messy. Golden has been the perfect place to stay all this time, and I’m going to miss it.

The best close up picture I got of the Mines “M” I got closer but it was just a fence so you couldn’t tell what it was

Picture from near the Mines “M”

Up at the Mines “M”

Thank you to everyone who made this internship possible for this opportunity, it is not one I will soon forget.