This is the sixth generation of DroneTeam Twente. Like previous years' teams, the student team competes in the UAS challenge, which takes place from 1 to 4 July. ‘In essence, it is about creating a drone for medical delivery and delivering a package to a precise location autonomously’, explains Jaunarajs. ‘During this challenge, the drone will autonomously follow a series of waypoints where, in one of the challenges, the drone is dropping a package.’
FruitFly
This year's drone, named ‘FruitFly’ , has significant differences compared to previous years' drones according to Jaunarajs. ‘This is the first year that the design of Drone Team Twente is open-source. Besides, we have tilting rotors, the package is stored inside the drone, and the wingspan is more than three meters wide. Although people have made crafts like this before, no one did it exactly like us. Besides, our drown has to be as light as possible, and therefore we used as little hardware as we can.’
Crashes
The team encountered several challenges over the years. For instance, in 2022 the team’s drone failed the final test before the challenge and didn’t go airborne. But that all has improved, according to the Chief Electronics & Testing. ‘Standardizing components and materials, such as carbon fiber and bolts, has significantly streamlined and simplified our design process.’
‘Big challenges have been with making the drone lighter’, Jaunarajs continues. ‘We made the software very robust and reliable. However, we got more crashes than we anticipated. Physical tests, which can be risky, are essential in our case. Luckily we only had a few brutal crashes. Because many parts are 3D printed, we could easily reproduce the broken parts.’
Milestones
The team is currently in Buckminster, England, where the challenge takes place. The previous DroneTeam Twente team reached the sixth place – out of 28 contestants. ‘We are shooting for better than the sixth place’, says Jaunarajs. ‘This year, slightly more teams are involved in the UAS challenge. We are learning from the previous teams, so the top 3 doesn’t seem out of reach as well. However, a bad result will not result in a major disappointment since the UAS is not the only important milestone for us. We reach small milestones every day.’
