Robots To Compete in NASA Challenge
The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will
hold its fourth annual Sample
Return Robot Challenge June 8-13 at Worcester
Polytechnic
Institute in Worcester, MA. In the competition, 20 teams from both
the university and business community will demonstrate their robots'
ability to
locate and collect geologic samples from a large, varied landscape
without
human control.
There are two levels of competition, one in which a
robot has
30 minutes to autonomously navigate and retrieve a pre-cached sample. At
the
second, more complex level, a robot must retrieve more samples from
separate
regions of the roving area with different types of terrain. The criteria
for
the second level will include the shortest amount of time to accomplish
the
tasks.
The
competition's
objective is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and
robotic manipulator technologies.
"The
teams'
robots are growing more sophisticated each year," said Sam Ortega,
program manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight
Center. "It's exciting to watch them overcome the significant obstacles
of this
challenge and make giant leaps toward developing a new technology."
Since
its
inception, more than 20 teams have competed in the event, nine of which
were newcomers in 2014. Last year's competition saw its first high
school team
take the field.
At
the
inaugural competition event in 2012, no teams were awarded prize money
because the challenge objectives were not met. During the 2013
competition,
NASA awarded $5,000 to Team Survey of Los Angeles for completing level 1
of the
challenge, and last year the West Virginia Mountaineers team from
Morgantown,
WV, was awarded $5,000 for its completion of Level 1. Both teams will be
back
this year to compete at Level 2.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.