The team Vyomagami from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology is a multidisciplinary student team with the common pursuit of exploring space technology and robotic technology on different planets. The VERY FIRST planetary exploration rover that has ever existed in the history of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, is being built right here and completely from the ground up by the members of team Vyomagami. The greatest thing about the project for us is that each and every task-from the initial conceptualization to building hardware, testing it, documenting everything as it is done and managing it is being done solely by the members, the students, who took the initiative to design and build what the institute has never had before.
The word ‘Vyomagami’ is an archaic Sanskrit word, the combination of ‘Vyoma’ which stands for the space-an endless and boundless cosmic expanse, and ‘Gami’ which stands for a traveler or one who embarks on a journey. Hence, ‘Vyomagami’ means a traveler of the cosmic expanse, a name we think best describes our aspirations of building technologies inspired by planetary robotics. For us the name represents a thirst for exploration, curiosity, and the desire to discover the wonders beyond our current frontiers.
Taking inspiration from the Sanskrit root Vyoma (the cosmos), our rover has been named ‘Vyomi’ which can also mean one belonging to the cosmos. Vyomi, in essence, is the result of our engineering prowess and aims to simulate the real planetary mission requirements along with integrated sensors, actuators and autonomous behavior. We aim to take theoretical engineering knowledge to its practical limits, by transforming into hardware the best technology that could be achieved.
Our team is comprised of students who are undergraduate engineering students from disciplines such as Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, VLSI, Advanced Communication Technologies, to name a few. This varied background enables us to tackle our task of building the rover from several points of view, bridging together hardware systems, embedded electronics, communications systems, IoT architecture, Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning, mechanical design, CAD Modeling, autonomous navigation, drone systems, as well as research and documentation processes.
Vyomagami may be a first generation rover team but, quite many of our team members have previously worked on different engineering projects, technically competitive events and hackathons with successfully built prototypes, intelligent software, and embedded hardware that got them acclaim at various competitions. These previous experiences of various team members have indeed gifted us a lot of insight and confidence which we will now utilize in this endeavor of building the planetary exploration rover.
We don’t only wish to build a rover, but a functionally robust planetary exploration system incorporating sensor fusion, algorithms for autonomous navigation and real-time embedded systems. We also aim to set a legacy in the institute of robotics and research to last for years to come.
Entering the European Rover Challenge marks the most exciting phase of our journey so far. While it is often an uphill battle for a first generation team to perform at such international competitions, that is precisely what pushes us further. Through diligence, a spirit of teamwork and immense engineering drive, Team Vyomagami aims to demonstrate that, at every stage of life, ambition and passion coupled with rigorous effort are the keys to breaking barriers and building what was once only imaginable.