The 10th anniversary edition of the European Rover Challenge (ERC), a prestigious international space robotics competition, has come to an end. Twenty-four teams representing universities from around the world took part in the event. The winner selected by the jury was the Swiss FHNW Rover Team, which performed best on the so-called Mars Yard, a space inspired by the Red Planet, where the competition of the constructed Mars rovers took place. 

The ERC 2024 finals brought together students from the best technical universities, representing 11 countries from around the world, including Denmark, Switzerland, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Five engineering teams from Poland participated in the competition. With a score of 2258.24 points out of a possible 3,000, the winner was the FHNW Rover Team from Switzerland. Just behind it were the hosts from Poland’s AGH Space Systems with a score of 2026.5 points, and third place went to the ITU Rover Team from Turkey with a score of 1796.6. 

The tasks performed by the participants faithfully reproduced real missions carried out by space agencies such as NASA and ESA, the challenges faced by rovers on Mars and the Moon. The anniversary edition of the European Rover Challenge also stood out for its new design of the Mars Yard, a competition arena resembling the surface of the Red Planet. Among the recreated parts of the Mars landscape was a canyon inspired by the Martian Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. 

The event, which attracts every year hundreds of prominent scientists, experts and space enthusiasts, was held September 6-8 in Krakow, Poland, at the AGH University of Science and Technology. 

The European Rover Challenge (ERC) is an annual international competition of Martian robots, with participation of teams from all over the world. The competition, like the University Rover Challenge, is part of the Rover Challenge Series – a league of the world’s most prestigious robotics competitions. The ERC is also the largest space robotics event in Europe aimed at the world of science and business, the new technology sector and the general public. The competition has been held annually in Poland since 2014. For more information on the ERC, visit www.roverchallenge.eu.