High-tech aerospace competition shows off local and international talent
Students from Aviation High and Brisbane Grammar were the big winners at the UAV Challenge – Outback Rescue competition which was held in Kingaroy this week.
The prestigious aerospace competition, which was held at Kingaroy Airport from 28 September until 2 October, showcased the talents of high school and university students as well as UAV enthusiasts in forwarding the UAV industry in Queensland.
Eleven Queensland high school teams and eight open teams – including two international teams from the Netherlands and India – competed in four categories for cash prizes totalling $70,000.
Congratulations to the Brisbane Grammar team, which took home $10,000 in prize money for winning the Robot Airborne Delivery Challenge.
The team, lead by Year 12 student Ben Paratz, wrote their own piece of history on Wednesday when their UAV flew autonomously and dropped a package to Outback Joe.
It really is an incredible feat that high school students are able to develop this kind of technology.
Congratulations also goes to Aviation High’s ‘Cloud 9’ team for winning the Airborne Delivery Challenge and $5000. This team successfully used a camera onboard its UAV to locate a dummy person on the Kingaroy airstrip, and then directed the UAV to drop a chocolate bar. The team was so successful that organisers did not need to measure the distance between the packages landing position and Joe – it landed directly in his lap! The Aviation High students in the Cloud 9 team also won the ‘closest drop’ award, winning them a prize that money can’t buy - an hour in a flight simulator - kindly donated by Alteon Training Australia.
In addition to Brisbane Grammar’s history making flight, the Search and Rescue competition for open competitors also achieved new heights, with two teams beginning their search mission.
No entrants were able to complete the most difficult category – the $50,000 Search and Rescue Challenge – however the University of Southern Queensland affiliated team ‘Team Galah’ and the ‘Melbourne UAV’ enthusiast team were awarded the two top encouragement awards for flying closer to Joe than any team has in the history of the competition.
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