The European Rover Challenge is the largest robotics competition in Europe, where student teams face tasks inspired by real space missions. They design and build Mars rovers that must tackle challenges such as soil sampling, autonomous driving in rough terrain, and operating equipment in a base. This year, as many as 102 teams from 32 countries entered the competition, with only 25 making it to the finals in Kraków.

SKA Robotics – Sirius 2

The Sirius 2 rover from the SKA Robotics reached the ERC finals for the fourth time. Each year, the design has been refined and improved – this year’s solutions included a new six-axis manipulator, a GPS system with accuracy below 1 mm, and advanced autonomous navigation. Last year, the team ranked 10^th, and climbing to 8^th place this year demonstrates the effectiveness of the improvements introduced.

Sirius 2 stands out not only for its advanced electronics but also for its unique suspension. Instead of the popular “rocker” or “rocker-bogie” configurations, each wheel is mounted on a large beryllium copper spring, ensuring exceptional flexibility and durability. The rover is also one of the smallest and lightest in the competition – this year, it scored maximum points for low mass.

The SKA Robotics team faced many challenges, from rigorous elimination documentation, to communication problems, to the need for numerous changes directly at the competition site.

“Preparing good documentation takes a lot of time, and the judges assess it very strictly,” emphasises Marta Dembińska, a team member.

“On site, every second counts, and disruptions – for example from phones or other rovers – can break communication,” adds Miłosz Kurtysiak, leader of SKA Robotics. “On top of that come last-minute corrections, which must be made with great care.”

KNR Rover Team – HAL-062

For the HAL-062 rover from the KNR Rover Team, this was its second start at ERC with the current design, developed since 2021. After last year’s 14^th place, the team advanced to 9^th overall this year and won the Probing task. The task consisted of collecting three samples from Mars-like terrain as quickly as possible. The KNR team completed it in under 4 minutes, while the allotted time was as much as 30 minutes.

In this year’s edition, the team focused on developing the vision system. In addition to a set of high-resolution cameras, they added a rotating camera. They also introduced a new division of operational roles: five people worked on the rover simultaneously (driver, manipulator operator, vision operator, and two responsible for communication). This significantly sped up task completion.

Diversity and cooperation

“I observe the daily work of both student teams – their preparations for the competition as well as their involvement in ongoing projects,” stresses Paulina Chrobocińska, Rector’s Proxy for Student Research Groups. “One might ask whether it makes sense for two rovers from the Warsaw University of Technology to compete in the same event. I believe it does – because each team proposes its own solutions, and such diversity allows students to learn from one another. It is healthy competition that motivates better work while also teaching openness and collaboration.”

Students from both teams are already working on new designs. SKA Robotics is building a rover designed entirely from scratch, with improvements in all subsystems – both mechanical and electronic. KNR Rover Team, on the other hand, is developing a new robot body and a chassis with steerable wheels to increase mobility.

“The success of both projects is due to the long-standing support of the Warsaw University of Technology authorities – both financial and organisational – provided to student research groups,” notes Paulina Chrobocińska. “This shows that the needs of the groups and their innovative and developmental projects are recognised and appreciated. An important complement to this support is also the programme Student Research Groups Create Innovations, implemented by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, thanks to which students can put their ideas into practice and develop their designs to an increasingly higher level.”