July, 2008

NASA Competition Set at Cal Poly Drawing Record Number of Entrants

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Some 25 teams from across the United States have already signed up to build a better space robot for the 2008 Regolith Excavation Challenge and it's NASA-funded prize of $750,000.

The competition is being held by The California Space Education Workforce Institute and is scheduled to take place Saturday, August 2, 2008, at in th Engineering Plaza at Cal Poly.

The Cal Poly College of Engineering is partnering with Slobotics to enter the competition. The challenge requires teams to build an autonomous robot that can excavate 330 pounds of lunar soil -- called “regolith.” The robots have 30 minutes to excavate the regolith rock and transport it to a collector box. Because solar energy on the moon is limited, the robots must be very efficient, operating with an average of less than 150 watts – about one cent worth of household electricity.

Winning teams will split $750,000 in prize money and have the chance to contribute to NASA’s final product: an excavator that will be used to establish a moonbase by 2020.

Teams registered for the August 2008 event at Cal Poly are:

• Cal Poly / Slobotics, San Luis Obispo, CA
• Technology Ranch, Arroyo Grande, CA
• William B. Cushman, Ph.D., Pensacola FL
• Toy Garden Inc. Friday Harbor, WA
Boppers Huntington Beach, CA
• UBC TREAD Robotics, The Woodlands, TX
• Green Cheese Solutions, Hudson, WI
• Lunaccretion, Westminster, CO
• Team of One, Berkley, MI
• Terra Engineering, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
• Team Terrich, North Kansas City, MO
• Lunar Miners, Rolla, MO
• Ajax Laboratories, LLC, Victor, NY
• Kingfish Tech, East Peoria, IL
• LREX ONE, Littleton, CO
• Mocha Boca II, East Peoria, IL
• Sandstorm, North Royalton, OH
• Dig-It, Honolulu, HI
• LunOREDIGGERS, Golden, CO
• Full Scale Robotics Inc., Port St. Lucie, FL
• Team Waldbaum, Sunnyvale, CA
• Next Step Robotics, Houston, TX
• Paul's Robotics, Worcester, MA
• McGill LunarEx Team, Cincinnati, OH
• Lunar Arc, Irvine, CA

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