Show-Me State Times

The Saint Louis University (SLU) AirCRAFT Lab's unmanned aerial system (UAS) was recognized as the most innovative entry at the recent SUAS Competition. The annual event, established in 2002, aims to encourage student interest in autonomous aerial systems and provides a mission-based challenge that mirrors current industry and defense uses of drone technology.

Teams competing in the SUAS Competition are required to design, build, and demonstrate an autonomous UAS capable of tasks such as autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, aerial imaging, and precision payload delivery. Judging criteria included technical design, a flight readiness review presentation, and demonstration of several mission elements: autonomous flight within set boundaries; sense-detect-avoid for obstacle avoidance; object detection, classification, localization using onboard imaging; and precise air delivery of payloads.

Jose Alejandro Crespo Cuellar described the collaborative approach taken by the SLU team: “Everyone has a role based on their expertise, but everyone also works together. There is a universal feeling of ownership in the lab over any project we do.”

The team faced setbacks during preparation. Senior Abdelrahman Osman Ibrahim explained how they responded to a last-minute crash: “We designed a collapsible version and then had to go back to the drawing board - it crashed 10 days before the competition. But it gave us a chance to redesign it in and come back with something better.”

Junior Amrik Singh Chana noted that other teams also encountered problems close to the competition: “Every team had a thing that went wrong at the last minute. Having done our rebuild ahead of time helped us be prepared for the chaos of the competition and the last-minute fixes.” Michael Brady added: “We continued from were we were to get better.”

The AirCRAFT Lab UAS team included juniors and seniors Aida Bah, Sameera Sankar, Sahra Shah, Divine Nwaokorie, Mohammedshadab Abdulrauf Ghanchi, Chris Schaefer, Kristian Nasi, Mohammed Mahad Mirza and Ryan Gade. They authored a technical paper on their UAS’s construction which will be published later this year.

Ibrahim reflected on their commitment: “We worked so hard on this - we practically lived in the lab before we left. We didn't want to leave anything to chance. We put it all out there for this competition.”

This year’s event drew 300 students from 53 international university and high school teams. RoboNation has managed SUAS since 2023 with a focus on real-world technology education and workforce development through its suite of educational programs.

Srikanth Gururajan, Ph.D., associate professor of aerospace engineering and faculty leader of SLU’s AirCRAFT Lab said: “This is a fantastic competition for aerospace students. It provides our students an opportunity to tie together all the subject areas they learn about in the classroom.”

RoboNation is a nonprofit organization offering hands-on robotics education across nine programs from K-12 through university level.