Hapless Outback Joe is in trouble again, and 19 teams of high school students with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are on a mission to find him.
The teams from across Australia and even California will converge on Ipswich tomorrow (Tuesday 29 September) for the two-day 2015 UAV Challenge, which will see them use their unmanned aircraft to locate a dummy (Outback Joe) in a paddock and remotely drop it emergency medical supplies.
Co-organised by QUT and CSIRO, the competition hopes to unearth new innovations for autonomous vehicles.
"We want to inspire young people into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers but at the same time we want to see if these students can come up with some great new ideas," said Professor Jonathan Roberts, UAV Challenge organiser and roboticist with QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty and Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation.
"Innovation is important for keeping the cost of UAVs low so they can be used in civilian applications.
"We hope some of these students will come up with ideas that simply haven't been considered yet. They could well have things to teach us in the UAV research and development space."
The 2015 competition raises the stakes on past UAV Challenges.
Professor Roberts said this year's challenge offered a fully autonomous division (Robotic Delivery Challenge) as well as the popular category for UAVs that are remotely controlled by the students (Airborne Delivery Challenge).
The payload has also changed. Outback Joe is suffering a severe allergic reaction and students must drop an EpiPen close to him - without breaking it.
"We want this to be as realistic as possible," Professor Roberts said.
"Medical supplies are fragile so a significant part of this challenge involves finding ways to protect the payload from the shock of hard impacts.
"The teams will have to slow the impact velocity of their package or cushion the impact - or both.
"We'll be measuring the force of the package's impact with the ground. Any impact over 75 gravities and the team will be disqualified, unfortunately."
Professor Roberts said many of the schools competing were veterans of the UAV Challenge, including Pete Knight High School in California.
"I think Mueller and Calamvale colleges will be the people to watch as they both placed very well over the last couple of years," he said.
"We're very impressed with the level of support all these schools show for robotics projects and STEM education in general.
"I'm pleased to see three teams take on the more difficult robotic challenge.
"All students involved are enthusiastic and talented. They'll be the people creating new technologies and industries in the decades to come, helping to make our lives easier and our world safer."
The winners of both the Airborne Delivery Challenge and Robotic Delivery Challenge will receive $5,000 in prizemoney. Second place receives $2,000.
Teams will be marked on mission performance including the accuracy of the drop, levels of autonomy and technical documentation, as well as the team performance in an oral presentation.
The UAV Challenge takes off at Gratton Field, Calvert Aero Modellers Club, Calvert 29-30 September, weather permitting, with the flights themselves scheduled for 30 September.
The 2015 UAV Challenge is sponsored by the Queensland Government, Northrop Grumman, Insitu Pacific Limited, Boeing, LightWare Optoelectronics and Defence Science and Technology Group.
Follow the teams' progress through the UAV Challenge Facebook page.
Airborne Delivery Challenge competitors:
•American Eagles (Pete Knight High School, California USA)
•Brisbane UAV (Independent high-school aged student team from QLD)
•Calamvale Eagles (Calamvale College, Brisbane, QLD)
•Calamvale Raptors 3 (Calamvale College, Brisbane, QLD)
•Cobras (Pete Knight High School, California USA)
•Freedom Flyers (Pete Knight High School, California USA)
•Indro High Fixed Wing (Indooroopilly State High School, Brisbane, QLD)
•MUROC Batfinks (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•MUROC Flying Fish (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•MUROC Funky Monkey (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•MUROC Super Cubs (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•MUROC Par Hexcellence (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•MUROC Double Duo (Mueller College, Redcliffe, QLD)
•Pyat Pigeons (Riverton & District High School, South Australia)
•Swarm UAV (Independent high-school aged student team from VIC)
•Veterans (Riverton & District High School, South Australia)
Robotic Delivery Challenge competitors:
•Brisbane UAV (Independent high-school aged student team from QLD)
•Knight Hawks (Pete Knight High School, California USA)
•Swarm UAV (Independent high-school aged student team from VIC)
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Media contacts:
Kate Haggman, QUT Media, 07 3130 0358 or kate.haggman@qut.edu.au
After hours Rose Trapnell, QUT Media team leader, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
