Congratulations to the selected teams and their schools who will participate in the Lunar Autonomy Challenge! 31 teams were selected for the qualifying round, engaging 229 students from colleges and universities in 15 states. Teams will now move on to a Qualifying Round where they will virtually explore and map the lunar surface using a digital twin of NASA’s lunar mobility robot, the ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx). Teams will develop software that can perform set actions without human intervention, navigating the digital IPEx in the harsh, low-light conditions of the Moon. The Qualifying Round will extend to February 28, when the top-scoring teams will proceed to the Final Round, with the winners announced in May 2025.

The Lunar Autonomy Challenge is a collaboration between NASA, The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Caterpillar Inc., and Embodied AI. ​

Learn more: https://lunar-autonomy-challenge.jhuapl.edu/ ​

SchoolCityStateAmerican Public University SystemCharles TownWest VirginiaArizona State UniversityTempeArizonaCalifornia Polytechnic Institute, Pomona (1)PomonaCaliforniaCalifornia Polytechnic Institute, Pomona (2)PomonaCaliforniaCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburghPennsylvaniaEmbry Riddle Aeronautical UniversityDaytona BeachFloridaEssex County CollegeNewarkNew JerseyGeorgia Institute of Technology & Arizona State UniversityAtlanta & TempeGeorgia & ArizonaHarvard UniversityAllstonMassachusettsJohns Hopkins University Whiting School of EngineeringBaltimoreMarylandMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusettsNew York University Tandon School of EngineeringBrooklynNew YorkNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleighNorth CarolinaPenn State (1)University ParkPennsylvaniaPenn State (2)University ParkPennsylvaniaPurdue UniversityWest LafayetteIndianaRochester Institute of TechnologyRochester New YorkRose Hulman Institue of TechnologyTerre HauteIndianaStanford UniversityStanfordCalifornia Texas A&M UniversityCollege StationTexasUniversity of AlabamaTuscaloosaAlabamaUniversity of Buffalo, State University of New YorkBuffaloNew YorkUniversity of California, StanislausTurlockCaliforniaUniversity of Illinois Urbana Champaign (1)UrbanaIllinoisUniversity of Illinois Urbana Champaign (2)UrbanaIllinoisUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkMarylandUniversity of Pennsylvania (1)Philadelphia PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania (2)Philadelphia PennsylvaniaUniversity of Southern California & Stanford UniversityLos Angeles & StanfordCaliforniaWest Virginia UniversityMorgantownWest VirginiaWorcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcesterMassachusetts Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate

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Lunar Autonomy Challenge: Selected Teams