Watch the 2025 Australian Rover challenge online!

Every March, university robotics teams from Australia and around the world descend on Adelaide to compete in the Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh). Founded in 2021 by the University of Adelaide’s Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR), this Australian-based robotics competition sees tertiary student teams design and build semi-autonomous teleoperated rovers and test them against a range of operational scenarios set on the lunar surface.

Now in its fifth year, the competition is bigger than ever before, attracting teams from all around the world and reinforcing the desire students have to address the challenges faced in returning humans to the Moon and eventually on to Mars.

The concept for Roving Rovers is based on this very challenge. Each year, we work with ATCSR/Adelaide Uni on an updated version of Roving Rovers, pitting players against the very same scenarios featured in the rover challenge.