Australian Rover Challenge 2024: A Recollection
Ahh, another year, another Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh); every March many universities descend upon Adelaide from far and wide to attend and compete in ARCh. This year was no different and once again we were there to celebrate alongside the many teams in attendance. The talent we walked into while there was astronomical and it’s no wonder its such a popular event, bringing in hundreds of people each year with many schools making a trip yearly to see the teams and their rovers; and now us as well.
This is our 3rd year in attendance at ARCh and it is something we look forward to each year, with many from the public and the teams themselves checking out what we and Roving Rovers have been up to over the past year.
Join us in a short journey going through our involvement in ARCh 2024 and where you will find us now that it is all said and done!
This year we decided to shift the starting position of Roving Rovers, instead of being in the Shackleton Crater we were to the side and above a cliff leading down into the crater.
Furthermore we kept it so players were still able to enter the crater through the use of lava tubes. Enabling players to experience more interesting terrain while still staying true to the lunar experience.
In the interest of maintaining a spoiler free blog here I am simply going to list the next few updates below without giving away too much information.
- Included the 2024 University of Adelaide rover
- A new narrative with more environmental engagement
- Updates to the control of the rover, making it a much easier and nicer experience for players
Overall we were able to update and improve Roving Rovers to be more entertaining and an easier experience for those who aren’t super familiar with games, especially driving based games.
As a bit of a late introduction, if you’re unsure what the Australian Rover Challenge is then I’ll give a quick explanation below.
Every year students at various Universities will create teams made up from various disciplines giving them all the knowledge of how to build and program a lunar rover. Teams can use and upgrade upon the design of the Rovers used in previous challenges or come up with a new design, though they have to follow some strict guidelines to follow. Teams are told about the different challenges and goals for the challenge so that they can practise and problem solve; making their rover the most efficient at various tasks.
A majority of the teams are from Australian Universities, however last year they had their first international team from Poland – Project Scorpio – and this year, the second from Bangladesh – Team Atlas – With both performing their national anthems for us at the ending ceremony!
For more in depth information go give their website (https://set.adelaide.edu.au/atcsr/australian-rover-challenge/) a quick visit, but the challenges they compete in are:
- Post Landing Task
- Excavation & Construction Task
- Space Resources Task
- Mapping & Autonomous Task
This year was even more grand than the last, especially at a new location. But the winners definitely deserved their places.
- 1st place goes to Projekt Scorpio
- 2nd place goes to Monash’s Nova Rover
- 3rd place goes to UQ Space
It was great to see all the differences between rovers and all the progress that’s been made and the effort everyone has put into the event and the team’s dedication to their rovers.
Keep a close eye out and you might find a familiar rover appearing in Roving Rovers 👀👀.
With that being all said and done, how did Roving Rovers go at Arch?
Firstly, thankyou for asking and secondly it went fantastic!
Although there were less people just wandering through this year, we still had quite a few people coming and checking it out, including a few school groups. Roving Rovers is a great introduction to the Australian Rover Challenge for the younger audiences, as they are able to try out the different challenges before watching the teams attempt the challenges in real time. We also had many of the teams come through and check out the game, as most had heard of Roving Rovers but never tested or watched any gameplay and so this was their first time playing or watching their teammates play.
As stated above we also had a digital version of the University of Adelaide’s rover and many; who had never controlled their own rover, were absolutely thrilled to be able to finally manoeuvre and attempt the challenge for themselves with their own rover.
Overall the experience was fantastic as always and it’s great to support all the hardwork and dedication that all the teams have put into their Rovers. We are looking forward to next year and are eager to see who takes the trophy in 2025!
You can find Roving Rovers HERE
And can keep up to date with its development through multiple channels!
Catch ya on the lunar side!
