Friday, April 24, 2015

XPRIZE Launches MOONBOTS Challenge

XPRIZE, the Marina Del Rey-based organization that is known for running competitions to spur innovation solutions to some of the world's biggest problems, has launched a new effort called the MOONBOTS Challenge. According to XPRIZE, the new challenge is aimed at kids 8 to 17, and invites them to design, create, and program their own lunar rover. The new challenge is specifically aimed at persuading teens to create small, 2-4 person teams to create their own robots--with a grand prize of sending those teens to Japan to meet the teams competing in the Google Lunar XPRIZE. The challenge is the second, kids-focused challenge that has been launched by XPRIZE this year; the group is also running a XPRIZE with Disney called the Create Tomorrowland XPRIZE Challenge. Unlike the group's traditional prizes, neither of the new prizes feature multimillion dollar purses, nor do they tackle large societal problems, but instead focus on inspiring kids.

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