Norman, OK. (September 26, 2007) – The X PRIZE Foundation has been announced as the sponsor of the 2008 Research and Design Website Challenge: The X PRIZE Lunar Rover Botball Design Challenge.  The Research and Design Website Challenge, is an optional fall activity for robotics teams registered to compete in the Botball Educational Robotics Program.

The X PRIZE Lunar Rover Botball Design Challenge puts Botballers on a mission to create a website about their conceptual mobile robot that will win the Google Lunar X PRIZE. The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a challenge for private companies to land a robotic rover on the moon that will send at least a gigabyte of images back to Earth.  The first company that accomplishes this will be awarded $20 million.

This photo of the rover model is courtesy of the X PRIZE Foundation.

One of the biggest conceptual design problems for Botball teams to overcome will be figuring out an inexpensive way to put something heavy on the Moon.  The lower the mass of the conceptual rover, the cheaper it will be to fly to the Moon.

“It’s great to see how interested students are in the idea of building a robotic lunar rover”, says William Pomerantz, Director of Space Projects for X PRIZE. “One goal of the Google Lunar X PRIZE is to engage and encourage this next generation of scientists and explorers. The X PRIZE Lunar Rover Botball Design Challenge will give these students, and their teachers and parents and friends, a direct and personal connection to space exploration.”
 
The Botball Program and the Research and Design Website Challenge are international competitions.  The Research and Design Website Challenge is divided into middle school and high school divisions. Winners will be announced on the Botball website before the first regional Botball tournament on March 1, 2008. The winners will be given their awards at their regional tournament award ceremony and will also be acknowledged at the Global Conference on Educational Robotics.

While the Botball teams won’t win the $20 million X PRIZE is offering to the first company that accomplishes the Google Lunar X PRIZE mission, each team that enters has a chance to win a $1000 award that can be used as a travel grant to the Global Conference on Educational Robotics to be held in summer of 2008 or as a partial fee waiver towards their 2009 Botball team registration.

All teams must be registered for the Botball Educational Robotics Program in order to compete in the 2008 Research and Design Challenge.  To register teams for the Botball Program please contact:
Jenny Grigsby at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or 405.579.4609

(The X PRIZE Lunar Rover Botball Design Challenge)

For more information on the Botball Program visit: www.botball.org

For more information about The X PRIZE Lunar Rover Botball Design Challenge visit:
www.botball.org/current-season/rd_website_challenge.org

For more information about the X PRIZE Foundation visit: www.xprize.org

The Botball Educational Robotics Program
The Botball Educational Robotics Program, an international program, is based in Norman, Oklahoma. The Botball Program achieves long term impact by training teachers and putting educational equipment in the schools that will last for years. An open-solution, nondestructive tournament sparks middle and high school students’ creativity and motivates them to learn as much and as fast as possible. Participating in Botball consistently gets students engaged in computer science, engineering, and other science/technology/math areas.   In 2007, the Botball Program had regional events in 14 areas across the United States and 3 international events.  Approximately 79,517 individuals including 34,220 students have been impacted by the Botball Program.  For more information please visit www.botball.org or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Contact:  Jenny Grigsby
Public Outreach Coordinator
KISS Institute for Practical Robotics
1818 W. Lindsey, Bldg. D, Ste. 100 Norman, OK 73069
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it (405) 579-4609

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