Design & build drones of the future

UASs, commonly referred to as drones, operate without a human pilot onboard, predominantly in military and special operations. This has, unfortunately, caused them to be seen in a negative light. However UASs have the potential to transform our lives for the better and are already being applied to commercial roles.

In disaster relief situations, UASs can transport medicines and retrieve medical samples, into and out of remote or otherwise inaccessible regions. They also send and collate information from across an affected area and help build a picture of the situation to enable relief workers to better direct their resources.

The UAS Challenge, will see some of the UK’s best young engineers develop the UASs for a representative humanitarian aid mission. The students will then take on other teams in a ‘fly-off’, where they will be challenged to transport a package as accurately and rapidly as possible. The demonstration flights of this ‘design-and-build competition’ for undergraduate university teams will take place on 1st and 2nd July 2015 at Elvington Airfield and the Yorkshire Air Museum.

The University of Bath; the University of Glasgow; the University of Hertfordshire; Loughborough University; the University of Nottingham; Queens University, Belfast; the University of Sheffield; Sheffield Hallam University; the University of Southampton; the University of Surrey; the University of Swansea; and University of the West of England are all confirmed to take part.

John Turton, Chairman, UAS Challenge, commented: “The event has three key aims; recruitment opportunities for industry, employment opportunities for soon-to-be graduates and a proving ground for innovation. The Challenge will assist students to learn practical aerospace engineering skills for industry, prepare aerospace engineering students for industry employment and encourage links between industry and universities. The competition directly supports the Institution's objectives of inspiring young people about engineering and developing awareness of engineering and profile of the Institution. All five of the Institution's key themes: Energy, Environment, Transport, Manufacturing and Education; are promoted through this work.”