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Lunar Autonomy Challenge: Selected Teams


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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/ ​

SchoolCityState
American Public University SystemCharles TownWest Virginia
Arizona State UniversityTempeArizona
California Polytechnic Institute, Pomona (1)PomonaCalifornia
California Polytechnic Institute, Pomona (2)PomonaCalifornia
Carnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburghPennsylvania
Embry Riddle Aeronautical UniversityDaytona BeachFlorida
Essex County CollegeNewarkNew Jersey
Georgia Institute of Technology & Arizona State UniversityAtlanta & TempeGeorgia & Arizona
Harvard UniversityAllstonMassachusetts
Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of EngineeringBaltimoreMaryland
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgeMassachusetts
New York University Tandon School of EngineeringBrooklynNew York
North Carolina State UniversityRaleighNorth Carolina
Penn State (1)University ParkPennsylvania
Penn State (2)University ParkPennsylvania
Purdue UniversityWest LafayetteIndiana
Rochester Institute of TechnologyRochester New York
Rose Hulman Institue of TechnologyTerre HauteIndiana
Stanford UniversityStanfordCalifornia
Texas A&M UniversityCollege StationTexas
University of AlabamaTuscaloosaAlabama
University of Buffalo, State University of New YorkBuffaloNew York
University of California, StanislausTurlockCalifornia
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (1)UrbanaIllinois
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (2)UrbanaIllinois
University of MarylandCollege ParkMaryland
University of Pennsylvania (1)Philadelphia Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania (2)Philadelphia Pennsylvania
University of Southern California & Stanford UniversityLos Angeles & StanfordCalifornia
West Virginia UniversityMorgantownWest Virginia
Worcester Polytechnic InstituteWorcesterMassachusetts

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