After five years of competition by more than 40 different teams from around the globe, NASA’s Sample Return Robot Challenge has reached its final stage. The top seven teams will compete for the $1.36 million prize purse on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sept. 4-6.

Competitors work in a virtual environment and aim to improve the autonomy and dexterity of humanoid robots.

Every few weeks, Robohub will post a roundtable chat and discuss an engaging topic relating to robotics. In this edition, we looked at how can robotics can be part of space exploration. Privatisation has certainly been a boon for companies, like SpaceX. What can we expect in the future? We strongly encourage our Robohub readers to chime in and be part of the conversation!

This chat features Sabine Hauert, Andra Keay, Kassie Perlongo, Yannis Erripis, John Payne and Audrow Nash, providing a range of perspectives from research, business, technical and the general public.

Team will program NASA’s “Valkyrie” for tasks aimed at future space missions.

After several unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX finally made a perfect touchdown with its Falcon 9 rocket on the drone ship, aptly named: ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’  A historic moment with the help of a drone ship.

In this episode, Andrew Vaziri speaks with John Lymer, Chief Architect of Robotics and Automation at SSL. They highlight key programs in space robotics from the 1980s through to SSL’s current program to robotically assemble satellites in space.

The documentary follows teams as they compete to win $30M in a race to land a privately-funded robot on the moon.

UPDATE: SpaceX successfully completed both the primary mission of setting to orbit 11 ORBCOMM satellites and the secondary mission of landing the first stage of Falcon 9 rocket with pinpoint accuracy and no damage. You can watch the full webcast below.

SpaceX is targeted to launch the ORBCOMM-2 Mission today, December 21st, 2015, from the SpaceX launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch will be broadcast live beginning at approximately 8:05pm ET with the five minute launch window opening at 8:29pm ET.

NASA announced today that MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is one of two university research groups nationwide that will receive a 6-foot, 290-pound humanoid robot to test and develop for future space missions to Mars and beyond.

In China, the robotics industry is booming. Companies are deploying thousands of robots in all types of factories, particularly in the auto industry. Chinese companies that manufacture robots and their components are also growing. This article focuses on the robot makers.

Fifteen years after it was founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin completed a successful test flight of its ‘New Shepard’ suborbital system and emerged from their secretive modus operandi, where only the absolutely necessary information were released, to take on a drastically more extrovert profile.

Several hours ago, ISS astronauts opened the cargo bay of the Dragon spacecraft that was recently berthed to the space station. It was both the 7th successful Dragon mission and the 5th successful ISS dock (under NASA’s CRS program) — a perfect record, which on its own is exceptional. Dragon missions are becoming so uneventful now that they are starting to look routine. SpaceX is advancing rapidly, however, and despite this weekend’s failed attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon9 rocket on an unmanned barge mid-ocean, it remains the most impressive feature of the ongoing CRS-5 mission.

We asked Alan Winfield what the first successful landing on a comet means for the future of space mining. Find out his answer below.

When Rosetta deployed its Philae probe, the first-ever vehicle to land (or rather dock) on the surface of a comet, it was cause for cheer from three intersecting communities who all have a stake in space mining: science, exploration, and commercial interests.

Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures has committed to a 60-year $1.16 billion lease of the 1,000 acre Moffett Field Naval Air Station. The agreement includes an additional $200 million to refurbish the hangars and improve the site with a museum and educational facilities.