Hi NVIDIA Team,
We are PSG Team Aurora, a student-led R&D Mars rover team at PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Coimbatore, India. Our team designs and builds Mars-style rovers and competes in international competitions such as the International Rover Challenge (IRC) and the European Rover Challenge (ERC), consistently ranking among the top teams globally.
Our rovers are engineered for off-road and unstructured terrain navigation, robotic arm manipulation, and assisted object detection. To enhance autonomy and real-time decision-making, we are upgrading our rover’s ROS control, perception, and object detection systems, including training and deploying machine learning models on-board for assisted operations.
Currently, our biggest limitation is onboard computing power. To achieve low-latency real-time control and model inference for assisted navigation and object detection, we are seeking sponsorship in the form of a NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit (or equivalent). This platform is critical for:
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Assisted object detection and terrain navigation
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ROS-based control and sensor integration for complex terrain
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Onboard training and inference of machine learning models with minimal latency
In return, we would be happy to:
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Feature NVIDIA’s logo and hardware credits on our rover, website, social media, and outreach materials
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Share progress updates, benchmark data, and student research developed on Jetson hardware
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Highlight NVIDIA’s role in empowering student-led Mars rover innovation at international competitions
If there is a formal process or contact for academic sponsorships, we would greatly appreciate guidance on how to proceed.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to the possibility of collaborating with NVIDIA to advance student-led Mars rover development and cutting-edge robotics.
Best regards,
Shivani Varsha
Computer Science and Engineering, Team Lead – PSG Team Aurora
PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Coimbatore