The most important activity of our club is participation in annual Aero Design competition in the US. The objective is to design, assemble and show the remotely-controlled UAVs. It’s a great opportunity for us to practically use the knowledge gained on the university. Over the years our club has gathered many achievements, including becoming the most successful team in the history of the competition.
We participate in all three categories of the competition. Each of the planes, in addition to taking highest possible payload, has to meet some additional requirements.
Advanced Class aircraft is designed to drop humanitarian aid packages onto the designated target. It is also able to perform fully autonomous flight. The objective of Regular Class aircraft is taking the highest possible payload – tennis balls (that simulate passengers) and their luggage – 0.5 lb. of payload per passenger. The materials used to assemble this aircraft are mostly aluminum and wood, as it is forbidden to use Fiber-Reinforced Plastics. The smallest of our planes is Micro Class aircraft – light-weight UAV operated by two-person team. It has to be stored in small package and is assembled in just one minute.
However, the competition isn’t the only activity of our club. We also participate in various science-promoting events, like Night at the Institute of Aviation or The Science Picnic of Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre. Recently, we also began participating in aerospace conferences on which we present our concepts and designs.