South African and other African students and learners put their Mars rover prototypes to the test on 19 September 2026, taking part in a simulated mission to Mars at South African National Space Agency (SANSA) site in Hartebeeshoek. As part of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge, the young engineers tackled the challenging Mars Yard obstacle course, putting their rover designs, problem-solving skills and teamwork to the test. 

Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge is a volunteer-led annual robotics competition open to students and learners from universities, colleges, and high schools across South Africa and other African countries. Participants receive free mentoring and guidance from the organisers on designing and building a Mars rover prototype. The competition runs for approximately five months and is structured to provide teams with expert guidance and support throughout the process. 

Around 120 young participants from South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, representing 18 teams, competed in the Mars Stage Final of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge 2026. They were selected as finalists from an initial field of 100 teams representing 11 African countries that entered the competition on 1 May 2026. 

The Mars Stage Final took place at SANSA Space Operations in Hartebeesthoek, marking the start of a partnership between SANSA and Cars4Mars and establishing SANSA Space Operations as the permanent venue for future finals. This partnership creates a lasting platform for young African engineers, scientists, and space enthusiasts to develop practical, hands-on skills in robotics and contribute to the future development of space technologies. 

Teams of students and learners have approximately five months to design, build and test their Mars rover prototypes while developing practical skills in robotics, electronics, software, engineering and artificial intelligence. 

Participants tackled the challenging Traversal and AI Autonomous Missions, navigating uneven terrain while remotely operating their robots from Command Stations positioned at the front of the competition field, known as the Mars Yard. The Command Stations have been sponsored by Woodline Branding Solutions for the past three years, supporting the competition’s continued development and providing teams with dedicated spaces from which to operate their rovers. 

Built from approximately 40 tonnes of red sand generously sponsored by AFRIMAT since 2024, the Mars Yard is a central feature of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge. Modelled as an obstacle course that replicates the challenging surface conditions of Mars, it provides participants with a realistic environment in which to test their rovers. AFRIMAT’s continued support has therefore played an important role in creating and maintaining this hands-on testing environment for young aspiring African engineers. 

An international panel of expert judges, including Lukasz Gliwinski and Kuba Kopec, travelled from Europe to South Africa to adjudicate the competition. Together with fellow judge Adam Zagrajek, they designed the Mars Yard obstacle course, which challenges teams through both the Traversal Mission and the AI Autonomous Mission. 

According to the judges, this year’s competition featured a higher standard of rover construction than in the previous two years. However, teams still faced challenges in completing the course, with the mechanical reliability of their rovers proving to be a key hurdle. 

On the other hand, teams performed particularly well in the AI Autonomous Mission, which focuses on artificial intelligence, computer vision and autonomous robotic capabilities. Participants developed software capable of identifying target objects based on their shape, colour and location within the rover’s camera view. 

Teams first manually drove their rovers to a designated location before using their onboard cameras and AI or computer-vision algorithms to identify objects placed in the field. These included a hammer, a tennis ball, an orange traffic cone and balloons of different colours. 

Teams earned additional points when their systems could accurately identify an object and determine its location within the camera image, demonstrating the ability of their rovers to combine robotics, computer vision and artificial intelligence. 

According to Ms. Basia Nasiorowska, founder and organiser of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge since 2024, the 2026 Mars Stage Final demonstrated the importance of providing students and learners with opportunities to gain hands-on experience in robotics, engineering and innovation. 

She said the commitment of the participants was evident in the effort they made to attend the competition, with teams travelling from Kenya and Zimbabwe, as well as from Cape Town, Durban and other remote parts of South Africa, to take part in the final. 

Teams faced a range of challenges during the competition, including wheels coming off their rovers, communication problems and technical difficulties that sometimes prevented them from continuing with the next tasks. Despite these setbacks, the teams showed determination and perseverance, repeatedly making repairs and attempting to complete as much of the course as possible. 

Looking ahead, Cars4Mars aims to reach more young people across Africa and expose them to the possibilities of careers and opportunities in space technology, robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging fields. Beyond technical knowledge, the programme helps participants develop valuable skills that are relevant to both current and future workplaces, including project management, teamwork and communication, time management, forward planning and failure prevention, creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving.