NASA, U.S. Senate Welcome Robot Challenge Winners to Washington

[NASA News Releases <hqnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

September 14, 2015  MEDIA ADVISORY M15-135 NASA, U.S. Senate Welcome Robot Challenge Winners to Washington West Virginia University robotics team The Mountaineers was the only team to complete level two of NASA's 2015 Sample Return Robot Challenge. During this phase of the competition, teams were required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky The West Virginia Mountaineers, winners of the 2015 Sample Return Robot Challenge, will be recognized for their achievement at an event from 3 to 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 21, in Room 385 of the Senate Russell Office Building in Washington. Media are invited to attend and meet the team members. The Mountaineers were awarded $100,000 in prize money for successfully completing Level 2 of NASA’s Sample Return Robot Challenge, part of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prize program, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts June 10-12. In addition to the members of the winning team, also in attendance will be: Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate David A. Wyrick, associate dean of West Virginia University's Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Media who wish to attend the event must contact Joshua Buck at jbuck@xxxxxxxx or 202-358-1130 no later than 1 p.m. on Sept. 21. The Centennial Challenges program is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which is innovating, developing, testing and flying hardware for use in NASA's future missions. For more information on NASA's Centennial Challenges, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges For more information on NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech -end- NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message with the subject line unsubscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.