Photo (L-R): Students Cooper Whitbread and Jingyi Khoo Pek Eng Qiu. Photo Credit: The University of Adelaide
University students from around the world will compete in a full-scale lunar mission using custom-built semi-autonomous rovers, as part of the University of Adelaide's annual robotics competition, the Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh).
The competition will take place from Thursday, 27 March to Sunday, 30 March at the world-class Exterres Analogue Facility at the University's Roseworthy campus. Eighteen teams from universities across Australia, Poland, Bangladesh, India, and Kazakhstan will put their rovers to the test in a series of rigorous space exploration challenges which will be evaluated by industry experts from Boeing, Caterpillar, ELO2, Turen, and the Australian Space Agency.
While other competitions around the globe focus on Martian exploration, ARCh is one of the only global rover challenges focused specifically on lunar exploration. Live-streamed to a global audience, ARCh brings together some of the brightest young minds in STEM to solve real-world problems in a simulated lunar environment.
Associate Professor John Culton, co-founder of ARCh and Director of the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, says the competition is an invaluable opportunity for students in building their careers in the Australian space industry.
"The Australian Rover Challenge pushes teams to solve complex engineering and robotics challenges that mirror real-world problems in lunar exploration," he said.
"It's one of the most technically demanding student competitions in the world and provides hands-on experience that will be crucial for future careers - whether in space robotics, planetary science, or autonomous systems development."
Photo (L-R): Student Cooper Whitbread; Associate Professor John Culton; and student Jingyi Khoo Pek Eng Qiu. Photo Credit: The University of Adelaide
The rovers must tackle four key challenges: safely disembarking from a lander and accessing nearby equipment; moving and manipulating lunar material; identifying valuable resources hidden within Moon dust; and mapping the lunar terrain using only autonomous sensing and navigation.
For Jingyi Khoo Pek Eng Qiu, lead of the Adelaide Rover Team and a Bachelor of Computer Science student, ARCh has been a life-changing experience that introduced her to the space industry.
"This competition has been the highlight of my university journey," she said.
"Leading the design, build, and testing of a complex robotic system has given me invaluable hands-on experience that goes beyond the classroom. It has solidified my passion for space technology, and I can't wait to see where it takes me.
"ARCh has also connected me with incredible teammates who share the same drive for innovation and passion for space. The friendships and collaboration within the team have been just as rewarding as the technical challenges."
Teams for the 2025 Australian Rover Challenge are:
| Team name |
University |
| Adelaide Rover Team |
University of Adelaide |
| Monash Nova Rover |
Monash University |
| UniMelb Rover Team |
University of Melbourne |
| RMIT Rover Team |
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| Swinburne Rover Team |
Swinburne University of Technology |
| QUT Remote Off-World Autonomous Robotics (R.O.A.R.) |
Queensland University of Technology |
| UQ Space |
University of Queensland |
| UOW Rover Team |
University of Wollongong |
| UWA Rover Team |
University of Western Australia |
| Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Team |
University of New South Wales Canberra |
| Bluesat |
University of New South Wales |
| Deakin Rover Team |
Deakin University |
| UTS Rock-E THE ROVER |
University of Technology Sydney |
| Macquarie Aerospace Rover Society (MARS) |
Macquarie University |
| Aspan Rover |
Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan) |
| AGH Space Systems |
AGH University of Krakow (Poland) |
| Legendary Rover Team |
Rzeszów University of Technology (Poland) |
| Projekt Scorpio |
Wrocław University of Science and Technology (Poland) |
| Rhino Rovers (Demonstration team) |
Dayananda Sagar Academy of Technology and Management (India) |
Australian Rover Challenge partners are: Caterpillar, Boeing, ELO2, iSpace, Australian Space Agency, South Australian Space Industry Centre, CSIRO and Mini Mammoth Games.
The challenge will be livestreamed at on the ARCh webpage https://set.adelaide.edu.au/atcsr/australian-rover-challenge/
