Students Can Now Build Their Own Rover Model

Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a machine like NASA's Curiosity rover, part of the Mars Science Laboratory project? Now students, hobbyists and enthusiasts can get a taste of what it is like to construct a scaled-down version of a rover using plans and instructions from JPL's Open Source Rover Project.

With the successful past and current rovers, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California built a mini-rover ("ROV-E") to engage the public.This rover is brought into classrooms, museums and school events to demonstrate rover mobility principles first-hand.In response to this enthusiasm, JPL engineers have designed a rover model that could be assembled by the next generation of engineers from commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) parts for as little as $2,500.