Mars Lander, high school project

Ok, I am in charge of a project in my engineering class and I need some help, but first he is what I know so far. Every person has a full size copy machine, like the kind that you would find in office buildings or doctors offices. You have to take those apart and build robots with grippers on them, and the remote control which is tethered to the robot. The robot will have a camera attached to it. You will need the camera to explorer a 12'x12' area full of something, and to find something. I need help coming up with rules (time limit, extra parts money limit, and others), a basic storyline that sets up competition, and how the area (mars) should be set up. We really need help, any response at all will be appreciated.