NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge showcased the capabilities of student engineers as they designed and tested robotic technologies aimed at building infrastructure for a permanent Moon base. The event took place at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida from May 19 to 21, 2026. The University of Virginia received the Off World Grand Prize for completing all events with the highest overall score.
Robert Mueller, senior technologist at NASA Kennedy’s Swamp Works and lead judge, stated, “The Off World Grand Prize is really about everything…it’s not just one thing that matters — it’s everything in the system.”
The Lunabotics Challenge is a two-semester competition where higher education students design, build, and test prototype lunar construction robots following NASA systems engineering principles. The 2026 competition, which opened in September 2025, saw 47 teams qualify at the University of Central Florida’s Exolith Lab, where they aimed to excavate simulated lunar soil and construct a berm.
Performance criteria included robot weight, communications, energy consumption, and autonomy, evaluated across four main areas: a STEM industry plan, a systems engineering paper, presentations and demonstrations, and robotic construction.
The University of Virginia team showed resilience when a wheel detached during the finals, managing to adapt their robot to operate with three wheels. Craig Kalkwarf, a fourth-year aerospace engineering student, remarked, “We had metal wheels ready to swap out. We had a plan. We ultimately got the win, and part of that was planning for anything — and it worked out.”
Judges noted that the systems engineering efforts displayed this year were some of the strongest in the event’s 17-year history, with many teams effectively overcoming mechanical issues during their runs.
This year marked a significant increase in fully autonomous robots, with 27 competing compared to 12 the previous year. “Teams excavated much more material than we anticipated,” said Rich Johanboeke, project manager for the competition, highlighting the evolution of design and innovation among participants.
The Lunabotics Challenge serves as a critical step toward establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. Mueller emphasized that the experience gained by students in this competition would be valuable for upcoming lunar missions.
The winners of various awards include:
- Off World Grand Prize: University of Virginia
- Lunabotics Construction Award:
- 1st: College of DuPage
- 2nd: University of Virginia
- 3rd: Michigan Technological University
- Caterpillar Autonomy Award:
- 1st: The University of Alabama in Huntsville
- 2nd: University of Virginia
- 3rd: University of Utah
- 4th: Purdue University
- 5th: Iowa State University
- 6th: College of DuPage
- Lunabotics Efficient Use of Communications Power Award: Iowa State University
- Systems Engineering Paper:
- 1st: The University of Alabama
- 2nd: University of Virginia
- 3rd: University of Illinois in Chicago
- Nova Award: Laredo College; Northwestern University
- Systems Engineering Leaps & Bounds Award: Virginia State University
- Rocket Award: University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign
- Presentations and Demonstrations:
- 1st: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
- 2nd: University of Alabama
- 3rd: Colorado School of Mines
- Honorable Mention: Michigan Technological University
- Presentations and Demonstrations First Steps Awards: Carnegie Mellon University
Source: www.nasa.gov.
