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News and Updates
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF SSL! (1976 - Present)
Annual Open House
This April 24, 2027, the Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility (NBRF) and Advanced Robotics Development Lab (ARDL) will be giving tours/demonstrations throughout the day (10am-4pm) as part of the University of Maryland's annual Maryland Day. This event is free and open to the public every year on the last saturday in April. Expect to see divers and robots in our neutral buoyancy tank, drive robots around in the ARDL, and get the chance to experience hands-on the research that we do!
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SSL heads to 2026 LSIC Spring Meeting
SSL Researchers went to present their work at the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) Spring Meeting, with posters representing work related to BioBot, lunar spacescuit design, and planetary rovers! One of the researchers, Avery Pierson gave a lighting talk in the main auditorium on her work, "Lunar Excavation Rover Test bed," where she presented her work on the development of a modular, small-scale excavation rover test platform for lunar surface development. You can find a copy of her presentation HERE.
Overally, 5 posters from SSL were presented at LSIC:
- Portable Life Support System Mass-Comfort Experimentation for Martian Exploration (Meredith Embry, Dave Akin)
- The Maryland Immersive Telepresence System (MITS): A Teleoperation Interface for Lunar Robotic Manipulators (Romeo Perlstein, Craig Carignan)
- Development of Control Methods for the BioBot Concept (Anthony Zverev, Jonah Malcom, Jessica Nguyen, Srujana Theerthala, Ishan Dutta, Katelynn West, and Romeo Perlstein)
- Lunar Excavation Rover Test Bed (Avery Pierson, Nicolas Bolatto)
- A Modular Rover Test Platform for Hands-On Student Design (Sophie Scherz, Daniil Gribok)
SSL heads to 2026 Earth and Space Conference
SSL research teams present at the 2026 AIAA Region I Conference - held at UMD!
FIVE SSL research teams presented at the 2026 AIAA Region I Conference, held this year at UMD! Research presentations focused on the BioBot Concept - with research ranging from investigating structural loading and elements to autonomous astronaut detection. The five research teams that presented were the following:
- Kinematic Development and Simulation of a Generalized Instantaneous Center of Rotation Controller for the VERTEX Planetary Rover (Anthony Zverev)
- VERTEX Suspension Kinematics and Control (Jonah Malcom, Ishan Dutta)
- VERTEX Steering Assembly Load Analysis for Hardware Improvement (Jeremiah Fan, Thanh Huynh)
- Autonomous Spacesuit Tracking for the BioBot Concept (Jessica Nguyen)
- Inverse Kinematic Solutions for the BioBot Concepts Umbilical Tending Manipulator (Srujana Theerthala, Romeo Perlstein) <- Won third best paper in the graduate category!
SSL also supported the conference by providing tours of the NBRF.
SSL freshman research team wins big at UMD Aero Dept. freshman research showcase
The "Morphing Wheels" freshman research team at the SSL won first place this Fall (2025) at the aerospace freshman research symposium! The team, Mehiret Aga, Evan Fluke, Gedayla Gordon, Atharva Sharma, Mrinalini Uniyal, and Ethan Wong, presented their work on a morphing wheel concept for planetry rovers like those on the Moon and Mars (see their poster below)! While the "Morphing Wheels" team secured first, the competition was fierce, and the other SSL teams did an incredible job formulating, designing, testing, and presenting their research! Congratulations to all the SSL freshman research teams for their very hard work!
Morphing Wheels:
- Mehiret Aga, Evan Fluke, Gedayla Gordon, Atharva Sharma, Mrinalini Uniyal, and Ethan Wong
Mobility System Design and Testing for GREMLINS Micro-rovers:
- Avery Agnes, Jessica Gogol, Adish Katwal, Shawn Mariner, William Murgolo, Aryan Vegad
Innovative Ideas for Spacesuit Life Support Systems :
- Lydia Cashin, Madeline Matthews, Ishika Pant, Nivedita Ranjith, Haidyn Searls, Malika Shukla
Robotic Pressurized Transfer Tunnels for Moon/Mars:
- Jeremy Bel, Haley Grow, Hunter Liebgold, Diego Olivar, Xochilt Saavedra, Aiden Viera-McCarthy
Driving Hand Controllers for Planetary Rovers:
- Kamila Garcia Carballo, Eva Caron, Alfonso Gruss, Yishaya Pearlman, Nathan Story
Spacesuit Camera System:
- Tara Martindale, Kendall Parlett, Zelene-Zi Piagoda, Camila Sanchez, Harrison Summers
Innovative Spacesuit Cooling System:
- Luke Armstrong, Kaitlyn Hess, Violet Lewis, Kylie Przenioslo, Charley Webb
Student teams show off their research at the 2025 AIAA YPSE student Conference
Five research teams from the SSL went to present their work at the 2025 AIAA YPSE conference - how awesome! The presentations were: Translational and Rotational Hand Controllers for VERTEX, Bringing Human Factors and Research Innovation Into a Different Reality, Kinematics and Control of the BioBot Rover System, Autonomous Astronaut Detection for BioBot Rover System, Martial Life Support Mass Effects on Astronauts. Researcher teams presented in both the undergraduate and graduate category, with Martial Life Support Mass Effects on Astronauts coming in as runnner up in the undergraduate juding compeition, and Kinematics and Control of the BioBot Rover System coming in as runner up in the graduate category! Great work to all of the students who presented at the conference!
Previous Years News and Updates
Our News and Updates column is refreshed every school year (Fall -> Summer)! Looking for past updates? You can find archives of the yearly news and updates below:
You can also find updates on the SSL's social media pages, found under Contact Us
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