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Spencer Lowell

The only wheeled rover in the competition, the University of Maryland’s Terrapin Rover Allows Versatile Exploration of the Luna Surface (TRAVELS), has a "quadrimodal mobility system which can roll, walk, leap, and rappel down steep slopes."

The Caltech team operates their gondola-like robot, which deploys cables and stakes to transport materials on the moon, "similar to what is used in the logging industry," says Lucas Pabarcius, a student on the team.

The California Institute of Technology's Lunar Architecture for Tree Traversal In-service-of Cabled Exploration (LATTICE) was named the most visionary concept by the judges.

The University of Connecticut’s rover—Morphing Tank-to-Leg Modality for Exploratory Luna Vehicles—used both legs and tank treads to design a robot that could "withstand various environments encountered on the moon, such as extreme operating temperatures, icy regolith, and inclines greater than 30 degrees."

Florida State University’s Extreme Terrain Quadruped (ET-Quad) was designed to "traverse rough terrain, to wade or swim through deep, soft-packed regolith, and to climb up sheer rocky surfaces.’"

Arizona State University students put their six-legged robot, CHARLOTTE, to the test down a steep slope.

Arizona State University's 6-legged rover is named the Crater Hydrogen And Regolith Laboratory for Observation on Technical Terrain Environments, or CHARLOTTE. The spider-like bot was awarded best systems engineering.

Inspired by animals as diverse as spiders, goats, and penguins, MIT students assemble their WORMS robot at the testing site.

The day before the field demonstrations in the moon-like terrain of the Mojave Desert, students displayed their robots in a Pasadena hotel ballroom. This bot—the Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System (WORMS) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology students—is designed to have modular components so different configurations could be assembled on the moon.

Cobra tumbling down a rocky hill. “Snakes and their unique slithering pattern in sand deserts have been extensively studied, drawing the team's attention for flat ground locomotion; however, snakes do not tumble. So, the team designed COBRA to switch between the wheel and snake configurations,” Ramezani wrote.