COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — A team of University of Colorado at Colorado Springs engineering students finished sixth at one of the most prestigious robotics competitions in the world June 14-17.
The UCCS team competed in the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Seafarer’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle student competition in Webster Field, Md. UCCS was the first team of the competition to demonstrate their UAV’s capabilities. With their take off occurring only three minutes after the clock started, the team successfully completed all of the required tasks in the allotted 40 minute period.
Team advisor, David Schmidt, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said the judges were impressed with the team’s performance, especially considering this was the team’s first year at the competition.
UCCS placed above such prestigious institutions as MIT and Cornell University in the field of 18 international teams. The team brought home $900 in prize money. The money will apply to expenses for next year’s competition.
This is the first student-led Near Space UAV project at UCCS. Inspired by the Near Space Initiative, a memorandum of agreement between the Army and Air Force research labs, the project began last summer with the help of several local and national sponsors. The team raised more than $10,000 to build a radio-controlled hobby-class aircraft, installed the proper electronics for controlling and navigating the plane, and designed a camera and data transmission system to send real-time video data to the ground control station.
“This project is important to the community because it helps educate the student population in a highly technical and elite field and brings local and national industry together for a common purpose,” said team member Shane Kirkbride.
Contributors to the project include: the UCCS student government, the Pikes Peak Chapter of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Lockheed Martin, ITT AES, RT Logic, SkySentry, Applied Research Associates, General Vision, Procerus and the MAE Flight Dynamics and Control Lab at UCCS provided space and lab equipment.
UCCS, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 18 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 7,800 students annually. For more information, visit http://www.uccs.edu.