The theme this year is “Return Samples From Mars.” Bernhard Zender of the Engineering Physics Project Lab explains the concept:
“Teams have to grab cans (aka samples), stash them on their robot, and place them in a rack which presumably would be on the rocket, for traveling back to Earth.
Anthony Chow and his robot “The Revolver”
Teams are invited to include a ‘sky crane’ that would lower the robot to the surface ‘of Mars,’ before starting to collect these samples.”
Alexandre Kneifel with his robot-in-progress “Shake n Bake”