Though NASA has smart people working for their organization, even they look to engineering faculty and students from across North America to find inspiration from up-and-coming talent.
University teams from across the country competed for a total of $1.5 million over the course of five years in the Sample Return Robot Competition, designing and refining robots to autonomously search and collect rock and other samples at various levels of difficulty.
The big winners are the Mountaineers of Morgantown, a team of engineering students from the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University. Their robot helped them take home a $750,000 prize - the largest purse awarded in the five-year competition run. They were also awarded $105,000 in previous competition stages.
“West Virginia University has shown incredible ingenuity, creativity and team spirit throughout every stage of this challenge,” said Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
“They were committed to advancing this technology, and we are proud to say that they have done it. Every team that put a robot on the competition field brought us to this moment. We congratulate West Virginia University, and commend all of the teams for their efforts,” Andrucyk added.
The Sample Return Robot Challenge, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, was started as a way to advance development of autonomous robots that are capable of locating and collecting specific sample types spread over a wide and varied terrain, and returning the samples to a designated zone. The competition requires these actions to be completed within a specified time limit. The robots had to autonomously search for and retrieve up to 10 samples in a competition field of a park with varied terrain.
The Sample Return Robot Challenge, as a part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, aims to encourage innovation in robotics technologies relevant to space exploration as well as the broader applications that will benefit life on Earth. By bringing together engineers, students, faculty and tech savvy citizens, NASA hopes to drive innovation and develop new technology.
“It is a thrill to see this exciting competition end on such a high note,” said Worcester Polytechnic Institute president Laurie Leshin, whose school hosted the events.
“These teams weren’t just working for cash prizes, they helped advance science and robotics, inspiring everyone who saw their hard work, imagination and excitement. The Centennial Challenge approach to open innovation isn’t just enabling for the future of space exploration, it contributes to making life on Earth better, too.”
The competition events were streamed live on NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center ustream channel, and more information can be found on the NASA Centennial Challenges website.