HUGIN I Report: Moon Rover

Čoahkkáigeasut

This report documents the design, development, and testing of HUGIN I, a lunar rover prototype created by POLARIX UiT, a student space organization at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, for the iSpace Class 1 LOOK Competition organized by Kongsberg. Developed over a nine-week period by a multidisciplinary team of students, the rover was engineered to map a simulated lunar environment within strict constraints of 15 kg mass and 60 cm × 20 cm × 20 cm packed volume. The project employed a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach using Capella, structuring development around a four-tier priority system that guided resource allocation across seven specialized subsystems: Power, Motion Control, Wheel & Leg Design, Body Design, Pathfinding, Imaging, and Communication. HUGIN I features a hybrid six-wheel skid-steer mobility platform with a deployable rocker-bogie-inspired suspension, solar power generation with custom battery management, LiDAR-based SLAM navigation using ROS 2, and CNN-based object detection accelerated by a AI processor. While the rover was completed in time for competition, time and budget constraints ultimately led to motor failure during the competition run; however, most subsystems performed as designed, and the project yielded valuable lessons regarding early integration, mechanical interface definition, and power system robustness. This report presents the system architecture, subsystem designs, testing outcomes, and key challenges encountered, establishing a foundation for future rover iterations.