Photos: Topanga Man Builds Robot To Compete For $1.5 Million NASA Prize

LOS ANGELES -- When NASA takes the next big step in Mars exploration - retrieving a rock sample and bringing it safely back to Earth - it might have to thank a few dedicated hobbyists who are doing the hardscrabble work to develop a robot that can drive itself.

Fourteen teams, some of them just lone builders working in their spare time, are competing in the NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge, now in its second year, with a $1.5 million prize at stake.

Each team is working on an autonomous robot that can recognize objects in a grassy field and go pick them up, without relying on human control or Earth-based technology such as GPS.

No one really expects the teams to succeed, at least not yet.

"We did set the bar very high," said Sam Ortega, who oversees the competition from Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

The robot builders will gather June 5 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and are unlikely to get past the first of two stages. That's if the robots meet some strict guidelines, such as an 80-kilogram maximum weight. Last year, only one team even managed to reach the first stage.

NASA is seeking

"They're trying to be as resourceful as possible, and they're trying to be as ingenious as possible," Ortega said.

There's one team from Estonia, and the rest are U.S.-based, three come from the Los Angeles area.

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L.A. hobbyists seek $1.5 million prize in NASA Mars robot challenge