The journey of Team “KUET Durbar” began on September 29, 2019, with a small group of students from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology’s batch-2k16 and batch-2k17. However, the initial path was not an easy one as we faced various obstacles such as a lack of technology, funding, and prior experience, compounded by Bangladesh being a developing nation. Nonetheless, the team persevered, and our commitment paid off when we secured 10th place among 28 participating teams in the International Rover Design Challenge (IRDC) 2020 in August 2020.
Unfortunately, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down the team’s progress in developing their physical rover. Despite this setback, we continued to participate in remote competitions such as the International Planetary Aerial System Challenge (IPAS) 2021, where we secured an impressive 9th place among 26 teams. Once students returned to the university after the pandemic, the team focused on rebuilding and pushing the development of their physical rover, even though funding and technology were still a challenge.
To increase our chances of success, we recruited new members, bringing our total workforce to 56 members. The new workforce worked alongside the veteran members, putting in long hours to develop the rover while also balancing academic and team schedules. Our efforts paid off, and we are now nearing completion of the fully developed rover they have been striving for. Along the way, we also participated in the Anatolian Rover Challenge (ARC) 2022, where we became finalists, although we were unable to attend due to unavoidable reasons.
In 2023, the team is more focused and dedicated to our goals than ever before. We have already registered for IRDC 2023, and all the work is underway. For an onsite competition we are currently aiming at ERC 2023. Despite all the challenges, the team’s resilience and determination have brought us this far, and we are determined to achieve even greater success in the future.