Help Robots Live Longer in Space

Why this challenge?

In the not so distant future, robots will work alongside, as well as in advance of, humans to take on some of our workload, and for scientific discoveries and exploration at distant locations.

Tasks such as deploying and preparing habitats and power systems on Mars before humans arrive; and here on Earth, assisting with disaster relief and industrial plant maintenance.

The Space Robotics Challenge focused on developing software to increase the autonomy of dexterous mobile robots in humanoid format – specifically NASA’s R5 robot – so they can complete specific tasks during space travel or after landing on other planets (such as Mars), as well as on Earth.

Results

This Challenge was conducted by Space Center Houston (SCH) under NASA Centennial Challenges Program, a multi-year project.

405 teams from 55 countries completed the pre-registration process and 92 teams from 13 countries competed.

Four teams won prizes at the final event ceremony, three from the US and one team comprised of citizens from Australia, Canada, UK (Scotland) and Spain.