Today NASA announced selecting Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) to host a $1.5 million robot innovation competition. The objective of the competition, dubbed the Sample Return Robot Challenge, is to develop a robot that can locate and retrieve geological samples from varied terrains without the need of any human control.

This past fall WPI submitted a proposal to NASA to manage the challenge, and upon announcement today, WPI will move to prepare for the challenge, publish rules and register competitors. Innovations and breakthroughs coming from the challenge will improve NASA’s ability to explore planets and other space destinations as well as for commercial applications right here on Earth. The competition itself will take place in the Spring of 2012.

“WPI has significant experience managing robotic competitions and brings extensive subject matter expertise to the partnership, making them a great choice to manage the Sample Return Robot Challenge,” said Larry Cooper, program executive for NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program at agency headquarters in Washington. “We look forward to WPI overseeing the competition and bringing together innovative teams with creative problem-solving ideas.”

The Sample Return Robot Challenge is one of NASA’s relatively new Centennial Challenges prize competitions, which aim to “seek unconventional solutions to problems of interest to NASA and the nation.” There have been 20 competitions since launching in 2005, with NASA awarding $4.5 million to date to 13 different teams (prize money is only given after successful solutions are delivered).

With Centennial Challenges, NASA provides the prize purse (the winning $), but the competitions themselves are managed by non profits like WPI who cover operational costs by soliciting commercial or private sponsorships. This robotics challenge is the first time NASA has partnered with a university to manage a challenge.

Learn more about what’s in store for the competition on the website WPI has carved out for the challenge.