To win first prize in the annual competition, the Stanford University robot used differential GPS for navigation. The helicopter autonomously flew and hoisted a bright reddish-orange metal disk retrieved from a bin.
Stanford University placed first in the 1995 International Aerial Robotics Competition, held at the Georgia Institute of Technology, after the team's helicopter flew autonomously for almost three minutes and retrieved metal disks from a bin.
This was the first time in the five-year history of the competition that any vehicle has accomplished that task, says competition organizer Rob Michelson, a principal research engineer in the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Aerospace Sciences Laboratory. Two other teams also flew autonomously for more than 30 seconds, but without retrieving disks.
To win first prize in the annual competition, the Stanford University robot used differential GPS for navigation. The helicopter autonomously flew and hoisted a bright reddish-orange metal disk retrieved from a bin.
"This was an outstanding competition," says Michelson, who also serves as president of the sponsoring Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). "Performance was very good. Even the teams that had problems and were not able to fly today made great improvements in their systems."
Stanford was awarded $7,000 of the $10,000 in available prize money for its showing in the July 6 competition, the largest amount ever awarded a single school. Second place and $1,000 went to Technische Universitat Berlin's blimp. Third place and $500 went to the University of Texas at Arlington's tailsitter.
The remaining six teams that entered vehicles were all close to the winners in scoring, said Naval Commander Grant Begley, one of the three judges. Stanford was also the first team to use the global positioning system (GPS) for navigation. The team employed differential GPS, which differs from other GPS systems in three important ways, according to team captain Andrew Conway:
1) It was used to control the movements of, not just track the position of, the helicopter;
2) it is accurate to within a few centimeters, as opposed to within 100 meters; and,
3) it allows for sensing the attitude of the vehicle--which includes factors such as yaw, pitch and roll.
"It worked reliably in California but there was no guarantee it would work here," Conway says. "We're very happy that it worked."
Ten teams competed in the event, which is open to teams of college students from around the world. The task calls for the robotic vehicles to locate and retrieve randomly placed metal disks, fly them across a barrier one at a time and deposit them in another bin--without direct human control.
Stanford's craft retrieved a disk and flew across the barrier autonomously, but was unable to deposit the disk in the bin.
The two greatest challenges of the task are maintaining vehicle stability while in flight, and navigating the width of a grassy arena 60 feet wide.
The student-designed and built systems range in value from $1,500 to up to $30,000. Much of the funding comes from corporation or government agencies, which underwrite a portion of the cost. The students build and operate the robots.
All were required to meet benchmarks for progress in the months before the competition by sending videotapes demonstrating how their air vehicles were developing. Points were awarded for vehicle design and concept, as well as flying performance.
Other competing teams included University of British Columbia, University of Southern California, Southern College of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Mason University.
For the student competitors, the event provides important experience in solving real-world engineering problems and working on a team.
For the AUVSI, a Washington-based non-profit educational organization, the five years of competition sponsorship have increased interest in autonomous air vehicles, which could be used to lower the cost of routine aerial inspections and flights into hazardous areas, as well as reduce risks to soldiers in combat scouting.
The 1996 competition will be at Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla.
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