Text Box: Image courtesy of NASA.
NASA is about to kick off its fourth Sample Return Robot Challenge. The competition will host twenty teams from both universities and small businesses. The top prize this year is a staggering $1.5 million.
Sample Return Robot Challenge teams demonstrate that their robotic invention can traverse various landscapes and locate, dig and collect a geological sample. The robot must perform all these tasks independent of human interaction.
For Bill Nye, the Science Guy's, take on how sample return will work, watch this video:
NASA’s objective is to boost improvement in autonomous robotics and navigation. NASA struggles with delays in communication between an operator on Earth and an extra-terrestrial robot. By adding more autonomous characteristics to robots, NASA can shift from a remote control setup to self-guided data collection.
"With missions to other planets and deeper space in our sights, it is increasingly valuable and necessary to see these technologies through," said Sam Ortega, program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "Robots are our pioneers, and solving this challenge will be a breakthrough for future space exploration."
These innovations will also benefit Earth-based industries as well. Robots are also well suited to terrestrial explorations where humans cannot go due to safety limits. Examples of this include search and rescue, and deep-water and geological exploration. These applications are often limited by the lengths of control lines or the signals of wireless connections. Adding autonomous characteristics to these exploration robots can save lives and improve the chances of its safe return.
Another interesting application of autonomous robots come from shipping and manufacturing. Many factories and warehouses are opting into autonomous robots to transport parts, products and substrates within their walls.
The Challenge is funded under NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which aims to find leaders from academia, industry and government to discover technological solutions and innovation. So if you are ever wondering about NASA’s budget come election time, do consider that it fuels the future of technology throughout industry — not just within their own walls.
To watch the Challenge live from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts June 8–13, 2015, follow this live stream.
For more information on the challenge and how to enter in the future, follow this link.
Teams will compete in two levels of competition that range in complexity. Teams that previously completed level 1 gain a $5,000 award and move onto level 2.
The participating teams include:
- Level 2
- Team Survey of Los Angeles
- West Virginia Mountaineers of Morgantown
- Other Returning Teams
- Formicarum of Worcester, Massachusetts
- Gather of Alexandria, Virginia
- Lunambotics of Mexico City
- Middleman of Dunedin, Florida
- Oregon State University of Corvallis
- The Retrievers of Schenectady, New York
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rock Raiders of Troy, New York
- Wunderkammer of Topanga, California
- New teams
- Army of Angry Robots of Silicon Valley, California
- DT Bozzelli of Ann Arbor, Michigan
- MAXed OUT of San Jose, California
- Mind and Iron of Needham, Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology Robotics Team of Cambridge
- RoboRetrievers of Tampa, Florida
- Sirius of South Hadley, Massachusetts
- Smart Move of Clearwater, Florida
- Smart Tools of Gurnee, Illinois
- National Autonomous University of Mexico