The Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge recently brought together some of Africa’s brightest young minds at the Mars Stage Final, held at the RIVERSANDS i-HUB in Johannesburg.

This unique competition is the first and only African initiative focused on designing and building prototype mobile robots inspired by NASA’s Mars rovers. It offers students a platform to showcase their skills in robotics, innovation, and teamwork.

This year, around 100 teams – comprising 400 participants from 11 African countries entered the challenge. After an online Launch Stage Final, 11 top teams advanced to the Mars Stage Final. These teams came from countries including South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.

Participants ranged from high school learners to university students. They put their rovers to the test on the specially designed Mars Yard, tackling complex tasks while demonstrating technical expertise and collaboration under pressure.

A panel of international judges, Adam Zagrajek, Lukasz Gliwinski, and Kuba Kopec, flew in from Europe to evaluate the finalists. They assessed the rovers on design, performance, and innovation, while also mentoring the teams throughout the event.

In 2025, the challenge featured two main missions. The first, called the “Traversal Mission” which is an obstacle course similar to last year, with some fun side tasks inspired by other missions (identifying rocks, looking for objects). 

The second task, known as the “Autonomous Mission”  where participants could do this mission fully with no AI, or fully with AI depending on how advanced they were.

“Students demonstrated remarkable persistence in bringing their robots to life and meeting the ambitious deadline for showcasing their progress. The overall quality and innovation in rover designs were impressive,” said Basia Nasiorowska, founder and organiser of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge.

“I would like to thank all participating students and learners from all teams for their hard work, perseverance and never giving up during all stages of the Cars4Mars competition.

Big thank you also goes to our sponsors and supporting organisations.”

For many teams, the experience extended beyond engineering. Sulungeka Nyakaza, an IT teacher at Umtata High School in the Eastern Cape, said:  “This competition opens up new horizons for our learners. Coming from small towns, competing on a big stage boosts their confidence and proves they’re just as capable as anyone.”

Winning Teams:

​•​1st Place: Martian Mechanics – South Africa

​•​2nd Place: Cyberstorm – Zimbabwe

​•​3rd Place: Red Horizon Initiative – South Africa

Special Awards:

​•​Best Design: Martian Mechanics – South Africa

​•​Best in AI Mission: Legends4Mars – South Africa

​•​Best Creativity: Jabari – Kenya

African youth are invited to participate in the 2026 edition of the Cars4Mars African Rover Challenge. Applications can be submitted via the website at www.cars4mars.co.za by 30 April 2026, or by contacting the organiser directly at basia@cars4mars.co.za or +27 60 478 9775.