NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge
Attendees of the NASA 2013 Sample Return Robot Challenge, NASA Social, pose for a group photograph with some of the competing robots and NASA Astronaut Steve Bowen, standing second from right, and, Sam Ortega, NASA program manager of Centennial Challenges, standing four from right, Thursday, June 6, 2013, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass.
Eleven teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA’s capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation’s robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth.
