AURION Rover (5th Gen)
UIU 5th Generation Flagship Martian Rover with Next-Gen Flexible Mesh Wheels & Autonomous Vision
AURION is the 5th generation flagship planetary rover built by UIU Mars Rover Team. Engineered with custom 3D-printed flexible tires, high-torque carbon-fiber manipulator, dual RealSense stereo cameras, and advanced biochemical assay chamber, securing 3rd place globally at URC 2026 in Hanksville, Utah.
Full System Specifications
47.5 kg / 15 kg max
Lightweight aerospace alloy structure optimized under strict 50kg competition limits.
24V 35Ah LiFePO4
Custom BMS with thermal runaway protection and continuous 2.5-hour mission endurance.
6-DOF Carbon Manipulator
Sub-millimeter inverse kinematics control for service panel operations and soil tube grasping.
5.8GHz + 2.4GHz Backup
5.8GHz Ubiquiti Rocket + 2.4GHz backup
Dual RealSense + RTK-GPS
ROS2 Nav2 stack running real-time 3D voxel grid mapping and dynamic obstacle avoidance.
In-situ Bio-detection
Deep soil auger with multi-chamber spectrophotometric reagent testing.
Subsystems & Payloads
Deep Subsurface Life Detection
Automated sample carousel with UV-Vis spectroscopy, biochemical test bench, and soil humidity sensors.
Autonomous Nav2 & Sensor Fusion
ROS2 Nav2 autonomy pipeline with point cloud voxel filtering, RTK-GPS centimeter precision, and autonomous AR-tag tracking.
5th Gen Hybrid Rocker-Bogie
Custom high-traction 3D printed mesh wheels paired with aerospace-grade 6061-T6 alloy suspension delivering unmatched stability over sand dunes and boulder fields.