A cohort of ten engineering students from Queen’s University Belfast has qualified for NASA’s international Lunabotics competition, scheduled to take place at the University of Central Florida later this month. The team earned their spot after winning a preliminary competition in Milton Keynes earlier in the year, which led to an invitation to the prestigious international event.
The Lunabotics competition challenges university teams to design, construct, and operate robotic rovers using NASA’s systems engineering methodology. Participating institutions include teams from Australia, India, the United States, and Queen’s University Belfast, which will represent the only European team at the international competition. The rovers must complete a series of tasks simulating lunar operations, including traversing challenging terrain, excavating simulated lunar material, and autonomously transporting the material to a designated location.
The Queen’s University Belfast robot is a 52-kilogram aluminum-frame rover developed through a collaborative effort across three specialized teams. The mechanical division, led by PhD student Jack Fitzpatrick, focused on structural integrity and traction capabilities. The software team, headed by third-year student Jamie Smith, concentrated on autonomous navigation and control systems. The electrical and electronics division handled the technical systems integration. Before competing, the team conducted extensive testing using rover simulations to validate their software and design choices.
According to the students involved, the competition serves as a practical demonstration of how autonomous rovers could support future human lunar habitation and exploration. The Queen’s University Belfast team views this international competition as an opportunity to showcase their capabilities and represent the United Kingdom and Europe on a global stage. While the students acknowledged the uncertainty of victory, they characterized the participation as a foundation for continuous improvement and potential future success in subsequent years.
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