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.

PAYLOAD PCB AND PROGRAMMING

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

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

I also programmed the Pi Pico’s firmware using MicroPython. See more on my GitHub: austindriggs/urc-payload-pkg.

KICAD WORKFLOW AND LIBRARY MANAGEMENT

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.

DEIMOS (ROVER) AND PHOBOS (DRONE) FOR 2026

Click the image below to watch the System Acceptance Review (SAR) on YouTube: