Aerial robotics team wins for best design

1998-08-17

WATERLOO, Ont. — A University of Waterloo team won the best design award and placed second in the Millennial International Aerial Robotics Competition held last weekend in the United States.

The Waterloo Aerial Robotics Group, made up mainly of UW electrical and computer engineering graduate and undergraduate students, competed against top U.S. and Canadian universities in the event held in Washington State.

The competition involved having a flying robot survey an unknown terrain and help in a search-and-rescue effort. The robot was entirely under computer control, with no human intervention.

The UW team finished second, just behind Simon Fraser University. As well, the UW students received the best design award for their work, which included a complex integration of computer flight control, machine vision, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence.

“This is a very prestigious competition involving universities from all over North America including universities such as MIT and Georgia Tech,” said UW Prof. David Wang, electrical and computer engineering, and faculty adviser for the team.

“Many aspects of this competition push the boundaries of what is possible using current technology,” Wang added.

Joining project leader David Kroetsch on the team were core members Chris McKillop, Doug Hemingway, Gilbert Lai, Martin Hartshorne, and Vivek Balasubramanyam. They were assisted by members Adriano Bertucci, Alok Aggarwal, Cameron Woloshyn, Jan Bakus, Mattias Hembruch, Peter Vale, Tim Beyers and William Rosehart.

Among the team’s corporate sponsors were COM DEV, QNX, RIM, Northern Digital, Hi Tech and Flite Craft.