Queen's University Belfast team heads to NASA Lunabotics challenge with moon-building rover

Could a robot designed by engineering students in Belfast one day help build a base on the Moon?

A 10-strong team from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is preparing to travel to Florida later this month for NASA's Lunabotics competition, a university-level challenge that asks students to design, build and operate a lunar robot using NASA's systems engineering approach.

The team's lab-built rover will be put through a series of tasks meant to mirror the demands of future Moon missions. It will have to dig up simulated lunar material, drive over obstacles and use the material it collects to construct a wall.

For Jack Fitzpatrick, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, the invitation is a major milestone. He said it was “a great feeling” to be selected and that the team was eager to make the most of the opportunity.

The QUB group earned its place at the international event after winning a competition earlier this year. It will compete at the University of Central Florida against university teams from Australia, India and the United States.

Jamie Smith, a third-year electrical and electronic engineering student, said the team split its work across software, electronics and mechanical groups. He led the software team, which focused on controlling the rover and developing its autonomous capabilities.

Before the physical rover was ready, the software team built simulations to test how their code would perform. Jack worked on the mechanical side, assessing whether the design was strong enough, durable enough and capable of generating the traction needed to survive the simulated lunar environment.

The result is a 52 kg rover with an aluminum frame. The team took it to a competition in Milton Keynes, where their preparation paid off.

“We got on very well. We ended up winning the competition and had great fun,” Jamie said.

Weeks later, the team received an invitation to compete at NASA's international Lunabotics competition.

Jack described the call-up as “a real opportunity to demonstrate everything that you've learned.” He added that it was also a chance to represent Northern Ireland, the UK and Europe on an international stage, noting that QUB is the only European team in the field.

Both students said the achievement reflects not only their own work but also the support they have received from the university and its School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

At the heart of the competition is autonomy. Jamie explained that the rover should be able to navigate a lunar-simulated room on its own: starting at one point, working out its position, traveling to an excavation site, collecting sand that stands in for lunar regolith, and then depositing it elsewhere.

“It'll pick up the sand and then deposit it at another location, and it's meant to do this all by itself,” he said.

Jack said the exercise simulates how real rovers might operate on the Moon, where autonomous machines could help prepare environments for humans to live in later.

“It's being able to autonomously operate on the moon and build environments for humans to later habitat. And that's the real drive behind why this competition exists,” he explained.

The international Lunabotics event brings together top teams from a series of precursor competitions around the world. Organizers say the aim is to showcase international talent in robotics and space engineering.

Jack said the QUB team is realistic about the challenge ahead but sees the competition as part of a longer-term project.

“We may not win the competition this year but we're building a base upon which we can improve year on year and maybe come back in a few years and really come through with a winning design,” he said.

Caolán Boyle, head of robotics at QPL, said the team is “exceptionally proud and excited.” He added that hundreds of hours have gone into making the rover mission-ready for the event.

The competition also underlines a broader shift in space exploration, as agencies and private companies look to robotic systems to help mine resources, build infrastructure and reduce the risks and costs of sending humans to the Moon. For the QUB students, the trip to Florida is a chance to test those ideas in a competitive setting—and perhaps to contribute to technology that could matter far beyond the classroom.

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