Feb 16 2011
NASA has partnered with Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to organize the Sample Return Robot Challenge, NASA’s new contest, focused on supporting advancements in the automated movement and robotic manipulation techniques.
The contest will focus on determining how a robot can identify and recover geologic samples from diverse landscapes without human intervention.
The winner will receive $1.5 million as prize money. These new innovations will enable NASA to enhance their ability to investigate several locations in space as well as to deploy these innovations in various industrial applications on Earth.
Larry Cooper, Program Executive for NASA's Centennial Challenges Program, has stated that WPI has vast experience in organizing robotics contests, bringing together several robotics experts to the collaboration and making them to organize the Sample Return Robot Challenge. He added that they expect that WPI will bring several proficient teams with innovative analytical thoughts to the contest.
A proposal has been submitted by WPI and soon the institute will commence its extensive preparative measures, announce regulations and enroll participants for the contest. The Challenge is likely to be held in the spring of 2012 and several non-profit organizations will sponsor the operational cost involved.
Private firms, individual experts working outside the conventional aerospace sector and student teams can participate in the Centennial Challenge. Prizes will be offered to those who successfully reveal their innovative solutions. Since 2005 around 20 Centennial Challenges contest events have been organized and so far 13 teams have won $4.5 million worth of prize purse. Two other contests named as the Night Rover Challenge and the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge will be held along with the Sample Return Robot Challenge. In the coming months NASA is likely to choose organizations for managing these two contests.
Source: http://www.nasa.gov