The University of Utah’s Lunabotics team has achieved a remarkable victory at the 16th annual Lunabotics Challenge, hosted by NASA, by securing the prestigious Artemis Grand Prize. This accolade recognizes the overall top performer among 80 competing college teams in the challenge designed to promote hands-on engineering experience in lunar exploration.
The main objective of the Lunabotics Challenge is to ignite student interest in human space exploration as part of NASA’s Artemis Campaign, which aims to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. Participants were tasked with developing a robotic rover that could efficiently excavate, transport, and deposit lunar regolith simulant—essentially a stand-in for the Moon’s surface material.
Robert Mueller, senior technologist at NASA Kennedy and co-founder of the Lunabotics Challenge, praised the ingenuity displayed by participating teams. “During this year’s competition, teams continued to elevate their performance in excavating and managing lunar regolith simulant using innovative remotely controlled robots. Each team’s distinct design and approach added to the competition’s excitement,” Mueller stated.
The challenge required teams to design a rover capable of constructing a berm structure from simulated lunar regolith. These berms can serve multiple critical functions for sustained human presence on the Moon, including protection during landings and launches, shielding cryogenic propellant storage, and providing safety for nuclear power stations against space radiation.
In the finals, the University of Utah’s team showcased their front-loader-shaped robot in a simulated lunar environment, wearing full protective gear due to the nature of the regolith simulant, BP-1. This material, composed of fine silica particles, poses a potential biohazard, necessitating the use of bunny suits and helmets with respirators.
The Lunabotics Challenge isn’t just about building a robot; competitors must also demonstrate skills in various technical and organizational categories. Brycen Cheney, president of the Utah Student Robotics club and mechanical engineering junior, stated, “This challenge provides unparalleled hands-on engineering experience. It allowed me to lead a multidisciplinary team, converting mission objectives into functional mechanical systems and managing a project from initial concept through to execution.” The team’s composition swelled from thirteen to thirty members this year, reflecting the growing interest in practical, experience-driven engineering.
The University of Utah’s Lunabotics team triumphed in several categories, including first place in the presentation and demonstration categories and STEM engagement, second place in robotic construction, and a special judge’s award for best use of systems engineering tools. Overall, their cumulative scores positioned them as leaders in the competition, ultimately securing the Artemis Grand Prize, which includes a $5,000 cash award. Combined with their other wins, the team brought home a total of $9,000.
Part of their success stemmed from the robot’s capacity for regolith manipulation, where their performance in the finals significantly outshone their competitors. The volume of the constructed berms was a critical factor in the final scoring, with the team constructing the largest berm ever recorded in the challenge’s history.
“Our robot was also unique in its ability to fully lift an obstacle rock on the competition field, while other teams were limited to just pushing the rock around,” noted Jeff Hansen, a team member and senior student pursuing a degree in chemical and computer engineering.
The team’s success can be attributed to their thorough preparation. They adopted an evolutionary design strategy focusing on quickly producing a simple yet functional robot, followed by subsequent improvements. “In past competitions, we struggled to have a ready-to-test robot until the last week before the event. This year, however, our lunar simulant test pit outside the Merrill Engineering Building was vital for refining our design, allowing us to address the robot’s performance in realistic conditions,” explained Nathan Bruns, team vice-president and junior in mechanical engineering.
The test pit, likened to an oversized sandbox, is filled with azomite, a silica ore that mimics the properties of the competition’s regolith simulant but is less hazardous. This facility will serve as a training ground for future competitions and a space for collaborative research among different student groups.
Jon Davies, an instructor from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and one of the team’s advisors, expressed pride in the students’ technical achievements. He highlighted the broader skill set that the competition nurtures, stating, “The Utah Student Robotics team exemplifies what can be accomplished through determination and a positive attitude, despite facing setbacks. Their ability to apply classroom knowledge to practical engineering solutions impressed not only the judges but the entire audience.”
Team Utah’s success was further supported by organizational skills in securing sponsorships to fund construction and travel costs, with major sponsors including the Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium, Metal Supermarkets Salt Lake City, Geneva Pipe and Precast, Make Salt Lake, Rock Utah, Runners Trucking Company, Macbeath Lumber, and The AZOMITE Company.
Achieving this victory marks a historic moment, as the University of Utah is the first team to dethrone previous champions, the University of Alabama and the University of Iowa, since the challenge began in 2010. The team plans to return next year to defend their title at the Kennedy Space Center.
Utah Student Robotics welcomes all students interested in joining the NASA robotics team. For more information, prospective members can visit the Utah Student Robotics website or their Instagram page.
The team comprises a diverse group of students, including Dominic Adamson, Vincent Banh, Anthony Bolda, Morgan Cheney, Matthew Gallagher, Keegan Hardy, Najman Husaini, Wyatt Jones, Nathan Kay, Matthew Ashton Knochel, Long Luu, Conner Manning-Duncan, Reagan Maughan, Willow Meacham, Joshua Schwartz, Jonathan Su, Cindy Sweeney, Jacob Wilson, and Joseph Youngblood.
Key contributors to this success also include Rachel Arlen, Aayush Gada, Richard Honesto, Sebastion Jenson, Ellaviolet Leon-Evans, Emily Paul, Jared Pratt, Dylan Ramirez, Leah Smock, and Rohan Vittal.
Mechanical engineering faculty members Mark Minor and Mark Maier, along with machine shop engineer Reid Rouse, were also instrumental as advisors in guiding the team through this rigorous competition.
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