Alabama students prove to be best at NASA’s Lunabotics Competition—learn more

For the seventh year in a row, the University of Alabama’s Alabama Astrobotics student design team has won NASA’s Lunabotics Competition. The contest asked students to design and build robots for the moon and Alabama’s entry blew the judges away! Read on to learn all about it.

Lunabotics Competition

NASA’s Lunabotics Competition, formerly known as NASA’s Robotics Mining Competition, is a yearly contest for University students where they are challenged to design and build a mining robot that capable of navigating on the Moon. The contest was established back in 2010. Since then, the Alabama team has blown the judges away with their talent.

Small step for man, a big step for students

The purpose of the Lunabotics Competition is to train students in the methods of NASA system engineering, and how to properly design, build and operate a lunar excavator prototype. As NASA hopes to both return to the moon in the next five years and establish a long-term human presence there, having scientists trained in building and operating lunar mining robots will be vital.

Alabama wins again!

This year, The University of Alabama’s team was awarded the Joe Kosmo Award for Excellence for their performance. The contest itself consisted of the robots mining, collecting and depositing simulated ice from the moon. 37 teams in total competed, and UA was able to mine the most ice and finish first in two competition categories.

More than just football

The University of Alabama may be known for how many national football championships it’s won over the years, but it’s done a lot more! UA’s recent win in the Lunarobotics Competition is letting us cheer Roll Tide at more than just football games.

Did you know UA had such a cool robotics program? Give us a Buzz @BamaBuzz!