This Year, Choose to Give to Robotics @ Maryland (R@M)

Overview

We are Robotics @ Maryland, a by-students-for-students club that combines community, competition, and robots with the goal of preparing any UMD student for a career in the future of technology. This year, we are fundraising for our annual RoboSub Competition and need your help! Our goal this year is to bring as many new members as we can, to give them the incredible experience of fighting for the crown in an autonomous underwater challenge. By donating, you're supporting R@M's endeavors to make learning robotics both accessible and meaningful. Help R@M continue to grow!

What is R@M?

Robotics @ Maryland is a student-run organization dedicated to furthering robotics education through the hands-on development of multiple robotic systems. Every year, we send our autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to compete in the International RoboSub Competition in California. We are expanding the scope of our club to build a quadruped robot dog, incorporate a sister organization, Terraformers, to develop a Mars Rover, and create an onboarding program to incorporate new members into the complex field of robotics. R@M cultivates a holistic understanding of robotics, encompassing design, fabrication, assembly, and testing, equipping members for real-world engineering challenges.

Our team consists of all walks of life on campus, from freshmen to graduate students, from the Clark School to the Smith School of Business. As of today we have over 100 members working on a wide variety of projects, all built from scratch and encompassing almost all possible branches of the engineering design process, from ideation to formal testing.

Who Are The Terraformers?

From Ingenuity taking flight on Mars, to the Voyagers crossing the boundary into interstellar space, and of course NASA bringing humanity back to the moon, it is a great time for innovation in Aerospace. 

Students at the University of Maryland are joining in on the innovation, having established the Terraformers Mars Rover Team in December of 2022 as a branch of Robotics@Maryland. We are a competitive team designing and building a full-scale, autonomy-capable Mars rover and drone to represent the country at the annual University Rover Challenge (URC) and Canadian International Rover Challenge (CIRC), where our rover will compete against teams from across the world at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, and in the badlands of Alberta Candad . 

URC and CIRC are highly competitive international competitions that bring together the brightest minds from all over the world in order to push the limits of space exploration. Our rover and drone will have to autonomously navigate through varied simulated Martian terrains, perform dexterous repairs and delivery tasks to assist astronauts, and conduct science experiments to determine the presence of life on Mars. URC teams such as Terraformers rely on donations to achieve our goals, and any amount of financial support will be deeply appreciated.

NASA Johnson Space Center Hackathon Winners

In April of 2023, Terraformers won the NASA Johnson Space Center 2023 Hackathon in the “Lander Deployable Heavy Crane Category”. We’ve designed a self-deploying, six arm rocket-powered crane that swiftly extracts and relocates Martian habitat from Starship's payload bay up to 100m away, maximizing landing site efficiency and enabling seamless Starship reuse.

Why should you donate?

R@M has had a major shift towards becoming more than just a competitive team, and is now the go-to space for any UMD student to learn robotics. We're hoping to give our new members the opportunity to join the team on our trip to California! All of the funds donated to the RoboSub team directly influence our team's inclusivity and diversity at competition. By donating, you're helping R@M foster a passion for robotics in more students on campus, and hopefully take the crown this year!

Robotics is an exciting, emerging field that needs help from YOU to have a substantial impact on our modern day challenges. Consider donating to a club dedicated to revolutionizing robotics education, made entirely by UMD students!

Follow our instagram for coverage of the event! instagram.com/roboticsatmaryland

Visit our website to learn more about us! ram.umd.edu

Thank you!

Gifts in support of the University of Maryland are accepted and managed by the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, Inc., an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization authorized by the Board of Regents. Contributions to the University of Maryland are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Please see your tax advisor for details.