WVU Wins NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge
Photo: NASA.
NASA awarded a team from West Virginia University $100,000 in prize money for completing level two of its Sample Return Robot Challenge.
The competition, part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, was hosted for the fourth consecutive year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and ran from June 10-12.
The challenge’s objective is to encourage innovation in autonomous navigation and robotic technologies, according to a NASA press release. Teams had to locate, collect and return geologic samples from varied terrains without any human control.
“It was wonderful to see the teams compete and demonstrate their expertise with autonomous robotic systems,” says Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “NASA uses competitions like these to help maintain and advance America’s leadership in technology and innovation. As we’ve seen this week, pushing the state-of-the-art in robotics will ultimately increase the effectiveness and safety of humans in space and will enable cutting-edge scientific exploration of the solar system.”
