The University of Portland Robotics Team created a digging system and autonomous programming for the team’s robot for the NASA 2025 Lunabotics Challenge. The challenge is held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The competition challenges undergraduate teams to develop robotic systems to help NASA find solutions to challenges inherent in future Artemis missions. The focus of the challenge for this year is to develop robots which can autonomously collect and transport simulated Lunar Regolith. This capability would allow NASA to utilize Lunar Regolith on the moon to insulate cryogenic fuel tanks and protect astronauts from radiation. The team built a bucket chain style digging system which will be used to collect simulated lunar regolith and transport it on a conveyor belt. The team created an autonomous control program which will use optical sensors to map the arena and locate obstacles. From there, an A* search algorithm will be used to navigate the arena from the excavation area to the deposition area, where the conveyor belt will deposit the regolith. The team plans to continue testing and improving the digging system and the autonomous digging system