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UCL Rover – Chassis & Suspension Redesign
Optimising weight, rigidity, and modularity for competitive terrain adaptability

Project Overview

As Mechanical Structures Lead for the UCL Rover Team, I was responsible for leading the full redesign of the rover’s chassis and suspension system for the European Rover Challenge.

 

The project required balancing weight reduction, rigidity, and modularity to improve off-road performance and ensure fast, reliable maintenance during field operations. Working closely with other subsystem teams, I oversaw the design, validation, and prototyping stages, ensuring the mechanical structures integrated seamlessly into the overall rover architecture.

 

This role also involved managing a sub-team of engineers, coordinating tasks, conducting design reviews, and driving an iterative, data-informed design process from concept to competition.

The Challenge

The key challenge was to redesign the rover’s chassis and suspension system to handle varied, unpredictable terrains while reducing weight and improving serviceability. The existing design was overbuilt, difficult to maintain in the field, and lacked the adaptability required for extreme off-road conditions.

 

The project demanded a balance between structural rigidity, weight optimisation, and seamless integration with other subsystems, all within tight competition constraints and a limited development timeline.

The Goals

  • Achieve at least a 15% reduction in chassis mass

  • Increase suspension articulation by over 30%

  • Implement a fully modular chassis and suspension architecture, enabling complete disassembly and reassembly within 20 minutes

  • Ensure seamless integration with critical subsystems, including the robotic arm, science payload, electrical, and control systems

  • Optimise the design for manufacturability using available fabrication methods, reducing part complexity, machining time, and assembly errors

Design Approach

  • Conducted load path analysis and applied topology optimisation in Autodesk Fusion360 to reduce unnecessary material while maintaining strength

  • Performed FEA simulations to validate chassis performance under simulated torsional, bending, and terrain loads

  • Engineered a Rocker-Bogie suspension system to maximise wheel articulation and improve terrain adaptability

  • Applied DFMA principles, focusing on modular design for rapid assembly and disassembly, enabling quicker maintenance during testing and competitions

  • Led cross-functional design reviews to ensure mechanical systems aligned with electrical, control, and science payload requirements

Key Outcomes

  • Delivered an 18% chassis weight reduction, exceeding the original target while maintaining required structural stiffness

  • Increased suspension articulation by 35%, significantly improving the rover’s ability to navigate challenging and unpredictable terrain

  • Achieved full mechanical disassembly within 20 minutes, enhancing serviceability during field operations and testing

  • Enabled seamless integration with all major subsystems, including the robotic arm, science payload, control, and electrical systems, with no compromise to mechanical interfaces or overall system reliability

  • Produced a competition-ready mechanical platform that met all mission requirements and supported autonomous and teleoperated functions under realistic competition conditions

Tools & Skills Used

Key Outcomes

  • Delivered an 18% chassis weight reduction, exceeding the original target while maintaining required structural stiffness

  • Increased suspension articulation by 35%, significantly improving the rover’s ability to navigate challenging and unpredictable terrain

  • Achieved full mechanical disassembly within 20 minutes, enhancing serviceability during field operations and testing

  • Enabled seamless integration with all major subsystems, including the robotic arm, science payload, control, and electrical systems, with no compromise to mechanical interfaces or overall system reliability

  • Produced a competition-ready mechanical platform that met all mission requirements and supported autonomous and teleoperated functions under realistic competition conditions

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