Teenagers who designed their own drone set to compete in national finals
TEENAGERS who designed a drone capable of detecting nuclear radiation dazzled judges before being crowned winners in a regional competition.
The team of five Year 8 and Year 9 pupils at St Helena School are celebrating after fighting off challenges from ten other schools at the Raytheon Quadcopter Regional Competition.
The group of brainy teens had been tasked with crafting their own quadcopter around a theme of Japan.
Their minds turned to the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima and the team decided to design a drone which could be used to map background radiation.
The competition consisted of an initial build day, when the pupils were handed the parts to assemble the drone and received assistance from an engineer with Raytheon Harlow.
A ‘fly day’ followed, when the drones were examined to make sure they were safe and the youngsters got the chance to fly their machines for the first time.
At the regional finals the group staged a presentation of their theme, showing off the modifications made to the drone before flying several difficult courses.
The team’s quad-copter was steered through hoops and around slalom poles in the fastest time.
