Sand in the Gears, Inspiration in the Lesson

Two days before the Colorado Robotics Challenge at Great Sand Dunes National Park, a motor failed on the RRCC Dune Crawler. Then another one. Students were up until the late hours before the competition, searching for fixes that could keep the rover moving.  

The challenge was to build an autonomous rover – one that can navigate a difficult sand terrain, and plan its path on its own, without direct real-time human control.  

Some of the students, including Forrest Champlin, had worked on robotics projects before. But they found this was a much more difficult task. 

The rover designed in the 2025-26 school year by the Robotics Space Grant team at Red Rocks Community College initially did great in tests right up until the last week before the challenge. It is one of four Space Grant teams supported by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium at RRCC. 

The rover, which the team named the Dune Crawler, seemed to go through doors and different terrain on its own just fine. But cheap motors seemed to be a part of the problem. 

Then once out on the dunes, the rover’s seals were no match for the windy conditions that blew sand right into the gears of the rover’s motors, causing more problems. 

The fixes worked – just enough so that the RRCC Dune Crawler could crawl through one of the five obstacles that are part of the challenge.  

“It was still a success,” said Forrest, the team lead for the project this year. “Even though we didn’t get the result we hoped for, it was where I needed to find myself. It showed me I am a compassionate and driven person, and it gave me motivation to keep going. It showed how persistent we can be to the point where I had to ask some of my team members to stop doing things and go to sleep.” 

Looking back, Forrest said he initially imagined leading the team and building the rover would be no problem. 

“I realized I’ve got a lot to learn,” Forrest said. He’s completing his second semester at RRCC and realized he learned a lot about how to work on the robot, but also about how to bring different personalities together to work toward a shared goal.  

The team was initially divided by those working on the mechanical aspects of the robot, and those working on the coding and programming aspects. But despite the challenge that was, Forrest wasn’t deterred from the work. Next year, he will be a project lead for all four Space Grant teams at RRCC. 

“I know everything I’ve learned is going to be very beneficial for me in the future,” Forrest said. 

Terrence Micciche, another student who worked on the team this year, and is preparing to graduate, says he learned “an unbelievable amount” by joining the team.

“I came in knowing nothing,” Terrence said. “But it’s accessible to all people.” 

Terrence is graduating with a degree in mathematics and plans to transfer to the University of Colorado Boulder to study electrical engineering. A friend told him about the robotics Space Grant club, and he thought it would be a good way to learn more about engineering. 

When things were failing, Terrence said the engineering part of the work felt real. 

“It was one of our professors, Adam Forland, who told our group, so many engineers would kill for an opportunity like this where everything fails and it’s all up to us,” Terrence said. “It was inspirational.” 

Corbin Travis, who was on the robotics team for the second time – he had been on the team last year as well – also saw the experience as a positive thing overall. 

“Robotics is rewarding,” Corbin said. “I like making cool things and seeing how they work.” 

Compared to the rover Corbin was a part of making last year, Corbin said he had high hopes for the rover this year. “The code would have worked quite well. We had a lot of initial success.” 

Despite any early divisions on the team, students said they wanted to work hard because they felt others relying on them.  

Ultimately, multiple students said they felt responsible for the issues that led to the downfall of the Dune Crawler. But they’re already talking about how to pass the learnings on to the team next year. 

Corbin would like to budget for the materials differently next year and thinks that testing needs to happen more often through the year so that the seals can be designed and tested with more time, too. 

“We can make this work,” he said.