06/23/2026The UAFS 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.Rachel PutmanBusiness and Industry2026-06