Austin Driggs

Austin Driggs

Electronics Engineer and Enthusiast

URC at WVU: PCB Design, Leadership, and Programming

I was the Electronics Lead at WVU for Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge (URC).

What is URC?

The University Rover Challenge (URC) is a robotics competition held annually in Utah where college teams design and build the next generation of Mars rovers.

The rover must complete four distinct tasks:

  1. Science: Collecting and analyzing soil samples for signs of extinct or extant life.
  2. Equipment Servicing: Operating valves, switches, and connectors on a mock lander.
  3. Extreme Retrieval: Navigating treacherous terrain to deliver tools to astronauts.
  4. Autonomous Navigation: Traversing desert waypoints using only GPS, IMU, and computer vision.

The 2026 rover that I helped contribute to is pictured below:

URC Rover

Payload PCB

I designed an all-purpose control and interface board to manage mission-critical sensors and electronics.

URC Payload PCB

See more on my GitHub: austindriggs/urc-payload-pcb.

Payload Programming

I also programmed the Pi Pico using MicroPython.

See more on my GitHub: austindriggs/urc-payload-pkg.

KiCad Workflow

I developed standardized KiCad design guidelines and implemented CI/CD pipelines to automate DRC (Design Rule Checks) and ERC (Electrical Rule Checks) and generate fabrication files (Gerbers/BOM), significantly reducing both design and manufacturing errors and allowing for streamlined development, iterations, and testing.

See more on my GitHub: austindriggs/urc-kicad-workflow.

Electronics Leadership

As the Electronics Lead, I managed the end-to-end lifecycle of the rover’s electrical systems. My contributions included:

  • Mentorship & Training: Created technical documentation and led training modules on reflow/soldering, PCB layout best practices, and electronics integration testing.
  • Project Management: Orchestrated task distribution for a multidisciplinary team, aligning individual member interests with critical path milestones.
  • Design Review & Quality Assurance: Served as the lead reviewer for all custom PCB designs, performing rigorous bench and integration testing.