The Consortium for Research In Space Systems, known as CRISS, is BITS’s latest tech team. The team works towards building a fully-functional, all-terrain autonomous Mars Rover with the goal of participating in the University Rover Challenge (URC), whilst also entering other prestigious design and engineering rover competitions. Through an interview with the Team Lead, Swapnil Padhi, and the Vice Team Lead, Uttank Jha, the EPC learnt about the workings of the tech-team. 

Established in January, 2021, CRISS has a little over 40 active members.. The team has successfully developed a rover design, participated in the International Rover Design Challenge (IRDC) and the International Rover Challenge (IRC), and successfully secured a spot amongst the top sixteen teams. The all-terrain autonomous rover, presently in the manufacturing phase, has been designed to clear certain tasks and obstacles—traversing harsh terrain autonomously, using it’s camera to navigate a safe path, manually driving over steep rocky inclines, using a robotic arm to manipulate various objects or lift a load, and analysing soil samples for biomarkers and signs of life. To accomplish such a wide array of tasks, the team is composed of five sub-teams— mechanical, electrical, software, science, and operations. Apart from the four technical sub-teams, the operations team is responsible for ensuring communication and coordination between all the sub-teams. The team is guided by seventeen professors, with Professor MS Dasgupta (Head of Department, Mechanical Engineering) as faculty in-charge.. CRISS is also in active collaboration with Dr Kaushal Kishore, a senior scientist at CSIR-CEERI.

The team’s goal, as claimed by Uttank, is to win the URC. Swpanil stated that the URC stands to be the ultimate proving ground for CRISS as it is one of the most competitive rover contests in the world. Swapnil added that the competition is supposed to be held in June, 2022, and that the team is eagerly and tirelessly preparing for this contest.

At present, the team is actively recruiting, and are on the lookout for enthusiastic, dedicated, and committed freshers. Despite the work being heavily technical, Uttank and Swapnil promise a relatively low barrier to entry for freshers. They further added that the recruitment process aims to help individuals find their sub-team of interest, and not grind their way through long and arduous tests. To ensure this, CRISS organised their first tech-team event during APOGEE ‘22, in which the 203 registered students were given the opportunity to work on various tasks which allowed them to gauge their interest in the various sub-team’s work. Out of these, approximately 20 to 40 students may be recruited, based on their performance and enthusiasm. Swapnil and Uttank further claimed that moving forward, this would be their preferred method of recruitment. After joining, members also have the option to be a part of more than one sub-team, depending on their interest and proficiency. Thus, by providing its members with the freedom to explore their interests, CRISS aims to set itself apart from other university tech-teams.