[meteorite-list] The Challenge is On: NASA-WPI 2014 Robot Prize Competition Registration Open

[Ron Baalke]

August 8, 2013

David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz at nasa.gov 

Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
janet.l.anderson at nasa.gov 

Eileen Brangan Mell
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
774-437-8767
ebmell at wpi.edu 
     
RELEASE 13-249

The Challenge is On: NASA-WPI 2014 Robot Prize Competition Registration Open

In pursuit of new technological solutions for America's space program and our  
nation's future, NASA and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in  
Worcester, Mass., have opened registration for the $1.5 million 2014 Sample  
Return Robot prize competition.

Planned for June 2014 at WPI, industry and academic teams from across the  
nation will compete to demonstrate a robot can locate and retrieve geologic  
samples from wide and varied terrains without human controls. Teams that meet  
all competition requirements will be eligible to compete for the NASA-funded  
$1.5 million prize.

"The objective of the competition is to encourage innovations in automatic  
navigation and robotic manipulator technologies that NASA could incorporate  
into future missions," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator  
for space technology in Washington. "Innovations stemming from this challenge  
may improve NASA's capability to explore an asteroid or Mars, and advance  
robotic technology for use in industries and applications here on Earth."

NASA is providing the prize money to the winning team as part of the agency's  
Centennial Challenges competitions, which seek inventive solutions to  
problems of interest to the agency and the nation. While NASA provides the  
prize purse, the competitions are managed by nonprofit organizations that  
cover the cost of operations through commercial or private sponsorships.  
Prizes are awarded only after solutions are successfully demonstrated.

Earlier this year NASA awarded $5,000 to Team Survey of Los Angeles for  
successfully completing Level 1 of the 2013 Sample Return Robot Challenge.  
NASA expects the 2014 event will advance the progress of the competition and  
include new, as well as returning, American competitors.

There have been 24 NASA Centennial Challenges competitions since 2005, with  
NASA awarding more than $6 million to 16 different winning teams. Competitors  
include private companies, student groups and independent inventors working  
outside the aerospace industry.

"We're honored and excited to once again host the Sample Return Robot  
Challenge," said Philip B. Ryan, interim president of WPI. "This year, 10,000  
people turned out to watch the competition and to enjoy WPI's fantastic  
'Touch Tomorrow Festival' of science, technology and robots. It's a pleasure  
to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in the wonders of this  
competition, this festival and this emerging field."

In addition to its academic programs, WPI's Robotics Resource Center supports  
robotics projects, teams, events and K-12 outreach programs. Each year, WPI  
manages at least seven competitive robotics tournaments. The university also  
has sponsored programs that foster the use of robots to solve important  
societal problems and encourage consideration of the societal implications of  
this new area of technology.

For more information, including how to register a team for the 2014 Sample  
Return Robot Challenge, visit:

http://challenge.wpi.edu 

The Centennial Challenges program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission  
Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing, and flying hardware  
for use in NASA's future missions. For more information about NASA's Space  
Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech 

-end-