October 31, 2009 6:00 AM PDT
Nineteen teams and their robots set out to compete for a total of $750,000 in prizes at the annual Regolith Excavation Challenge, which took place October 17 and 18 at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.
The competition, which simulates the conditions of maneuvering and digging on the lunar surface, gives teams a chance to innovate and invent new methods of engineering robotics for space exploration.
Photo by California Space Authority/Jamie Foster
Caption by James Martin
