ZERO-Robotics: A Student Competition aboard the International Space Station

The designation of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory enhances the ability to use the facility for educational objectives. The MIT Space Systems Laboratory and Aurora Flight Sciences started the ZERO-Robotics program to enable High School students to participate directly in the science conducted aboard the ISS. The program, based on the successful history of the FIRST Robotics Competition, opens development of SPHERES software algorithms to high school students. For this purpose the team developed a simulation that allows students at many grade levels to program the satellites. The concept for the ZERO-Robotics competition consists of three phases: (1) software algorithm annual competition, (2) hardware enhancements to SPHERES, and (3) open announcement for participation in SPHERES. The first phase is already under implementation: a "pilot" program ran a competition in the MIT Flat Floor and aboard the ISS with two Idaho schools during the Fall of 2009.(1,2)