Despite robots that passed by, or even ran over, the objects they were searching for and others that never got off the starting platform, scientists said this week’s NASA robotics event is pushing the technology forward.

NASA’s 2015 Sample Return Robot Challenge is intended to encourage researchers to develop robotics and autonomy software that could someday be used on Mars or the moon.

The challenge, which involved 16 robotics teams from around the country, requires the robots to navigate – without human guidance – around a large field and find objects, ranging from a ball to a red rock and a yellow PVC pipe.

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