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Brno Mars Rover, a student team from Brno University of Technology, finished 6th overall with its rover Freya in the finals of the global European Rover Challenge (ERC) robotics competition in Krakow. Compared to last year, the team increased its score by 60 percent – the biggest improvement of any team in the competition. It also received an award for the best performance in the astrobiology discipline and finished second in two other disciplines.
A student team from BUT with the Freya rover at the competition site in Krakow. | Author: S. Svědiroh ArchivesDuring the first weekend of September, the finals of the 12th European Rover Challenge in Krakow brought together the best university robotics teams from around the world. For the second year in a row, Brno Mars Rover was among the 25 teams that advanced to the finals from 124 registered teams representing 29 countries.
Last year, the Brno robotics team advanced to the finals with a wild card and finished 11th overall in its debut appearance. This year’s qualification round, in which an expert jury assessed technical reports and video presentations demonstrating the rover’s capabilities, saw the BUT team move up to 10th place. In the finals, the team improved on this position even further.
The Freya rover completing competition tasks during the 2026 ERC in Krakow. | Author: Martin Majnuš“We are thrilled with sixth place overall. I am incredibly proud of the entire team. We improved in each of the eight scored tasks, and with an absolute increase of 859 points, we made the biggest improvement of any team in the competition. To our great delight, we also brought home a trophy from Krakow for first place in the Science – AstroBio category. In this astrobiology challenge, our task was to use the rover to search for signs of life in unknown samples. As a bonus, we also achieved two second-place finishes and one third-place finish in other disciplines,” said Stanislav Svědiroh, one of the teamleaders of the Brno Mars Rover team, reflecting on the team’s participation in ERC 2026.
“Now we want to analyse our results in detail, identify our weaknesses and improve again next year. At the same time, we would like to thank the university, its faculties and our industry partners for their long-term support. Without it, results like these would not be possible,” he added.Brno Mars Rover, winner of the first-place prize in the Science – AstroBio category. | Author: S. Svědiroh ArchivesThis year’s scores also demonstrate the increasing level of competition. Brno Mars Rover scored 2,279 points out of a possible 3,000, which would have been enough for overall victory in the previous year. The 2025 champion, EPFL Xplore, won with 2,180.4 points.
“When we added up our points during this year’s competition, we thought we must have made a mistake somewhere. Our total was high enough to have secured overall victory last year. The best team scored 2,180 points last year, while this year’s winner needed 2,548 points. It shows how far the competition has progressed – both in terms of the number and quality of participants and the overall professionalism of its organisation,” Svědiroh said.
The overall victory, as last year, went to the Swiss team EPFL Xplore from École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. The home team AGH Space Systems from the host institution, AGH University of Krakow, finished second, while team DIANA from Italy’s Politecnico di Torino took third place. The finalists also included teams from Spain, Türkiye, Germany, Ukraine, Egypt, India and Japan.
The Freya rover completing competition tasks during the 2026 ERC in Krakow. | Author: Martin MajnušThe competition took place at the Mars Yard, designed to replicate part of the Hellas Planitia impact basin on Mars. Over three days of competition, students and young engineers tested their robots under conditions simulating the challenges associated with exploring the Martian surface.
Eight scored disciplines tested not only the rovers’ technical capabilities but also teamwork. The tasks were inspired by challenges encountered in real space missions and included autonomous navigation, sample collection and analysis, maintenance tasks and an astrobiology challenge, in which Brno Mars Rover received the award for the best performance.
Miloš Cihlář from the Brno team completing a task in the “Droning” discipline—autonomous flight with a drone that is part of a robotic system. | Author: Martin MajnušStudents draw on a wide range of skills when preparing and operating the rover – from electronic circuit design, automation, robotics and programming to data analysis and teamwork. Thanks to its interdisciplinary nature, the ERC is therefore not just a robotics competition, but also an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with methods and skills applicable to the development of complex technical systems and the space industry.
“We believe that our activities give students something beyond what they gain from regular classes – specific technical knowledge and experience, as well as the ability to take the development of a technical product through to completion. We want students to leave Brno Mars Rover with significantly more experience than they had when they joined the team, helping them find interesting career opportunities,” Stanislav Svědiroh concluded.The Freya rover completing competition tasks during the 2026 ERC in Krakow. | Author: Martin Majnuš