Just Ducky

The Moonbots team "Just Ducky" mass mailed every Google Lunar X PRIZE Team and we took the advantage to answer the questions as a blogpost.

Hi Team Ducky,

You introduced yourself very nicely with a small team photo so do we. Well, actually is impossible to get all the team member on one picture so we have chosen five.

Why is it important to explore the moon?
Because it's there. It's the challenge that matters, forming the team, building the hardware, connecting the partners and getting that 4-wheeled-something up there!
What success and failures has your team experienced?
Too many! And even some failures. No seriously, we're having quite a fast paced development and there are consequent up's and down's. Among the most recent accomplishments we got our next generation of electronics running with over 10times the efficiency than the previous ones. That means the latest rover prototypes broke like a world record in taking our test course :-)
What new technologies has your team developed during your participation in the „Race to the Moon"?
Quite a lot. If you try to see it with the eyes of an engineer, almost every part is specifically customized to fit our needs. Thus we cover a lot of new technological ground from the wheels to camera head. Follow us on Facebook or our blog to find out what we're doing right now.
If you don't win the race, what will your team have gained that may be just as important?
Even if our team couldn't win the first prize or the GLXP itself, we would still continue to pursue our mission as the challenge is our goal. We have met many new colleagues and built a team. It’s a long way we have traveled.
Do you use any small intricate plastic parts?
You mean like small minifigs or LEGO Bricks? No, not really. Sometimes we take a small minifig with the saying "Hell Yeah it's Rocket Science" on our rover test field trips.
What skills would you consider most important for students to learn, considering the jobs we will be working don't exist today?
Mathematics and physics rules are true all over the world and the skill to think in a logical and abstract way is very important as it helps you to conquer most challenges.
What advice would your team give high school students?
Don’t be lazy; its time to invest in your own future. You’re currently building the foundation of your further education. Look for STEM classes and try to learn at least one foreign language (maybe German). It is of great help to communicate in more than one language and it broadens your horizons.
If you were forced to pick two teams as the winners of the GLXP Competition, and you could not select your own team, who would they be?
Anyone who will be able to make a significant contribution towards this competition is already a "winner". Full stop.
How could our team „Just Ducky" help your team?
Provide us with a full mission funding! Or maybe just sponsor us a Pizza for our meetings ;-)
Really, the best thing you could do is to enlighten the public on the goals of the Google Lunar X PRIZE and help spread the word. We will make sure to do the same thing for the moonbots 2.0 challenge again!
At the end of the race to the moon, win or not, what would you like the media to write about your team?
That it was worth it and we managed to change things. That we brought some momentum into the business.
Would you be willing to mentor our team?
Sorry, no. We are already mentoring the RoboSpartans and we are fully busy with that.
Would you please send team photos of your team, rover/hopper if available, or any other photos that you would want to share with the world?
Sure, we loooooovveeee pictures! You can find even more on our facebook page (have a look for the album) or in he gallery on our homepage.