UAFS Students Win Autonomous Vehicle Challenge

Written By: Rachel Putman

The University of Arkansas – Fort Smith engineering team won the 2026 Autonomous Vehicle Challenge on April 16 at Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, earning first place and best presentation honors in a statewide competition sponsored by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium.

The UAFS team, competing as “Lords of the Spheres,” scored 555 points in the annual competition, which gives collegiate teams from across Arkansas the fall and spring semesters to design, build and program an autonomous vehicle. The vehicle must navigate a course and complete tasks autonomously, with teams also evaluated on engineering documentation and oral presentations.

This year’s challenge required autonomous vehicles to retrieve four 6-inch pneumatic balls in red, yellow, blue and green and place them in matching 5-gallon buckets on a 30-by-30-foot course. Bonus points were awarded for verbal vehicle starts and programming the order in which the vehicle picked up the balls.

UAFS finished ahead of the University of Central Arkansas’ “Ball-e,” which scored 350 points, and UCA’s “WonkyBot,” which scored 200 points and earned best notebook honors. Arkansas Tech University’s “A.T.O.M.” and the University of Arkansas’ “Autonomous Hogs” tied with 150 points.

The UAFS team members were Manuel Martinez, Hudson Reeves, Beau Sampley, Jonah White, Adraina Munoz, Levi Ward and Samantha Thomas.

Kevin R. Lewelling, professor of electrical engineering at UAFS, said undergraduate engineering competitions such as the Autonomous Vehicle Challenge help students build technical and professional skills beyond the classroom. Students design, construct and program vehicles that must operate without human control, requiring them to apply skills in circuitry, programming, artificial intelligence, documentation and communication.

The competition also encourages collaboration among students from different universities. Workshops held before the competition included training, discussions about artificial intelligence ethics, student design presentations and practice on the competition field.

The win comes as three of the UAFS team members prepare for summer 2026 NASA internships. Hudson Reeves and Beau Sampley will intern at Johnson Space Center, while Jonah White will intern at Marshall Space Flight Center.

“I am immensely proud of these students,” Lewelling said.