Students gather for global drone competition
Students from the UK, Estonia, China, Italy, Netherlands, and Portugal gathered in Lincolnshire, UK, for an annual autonomous drone challenge.
A record 32 universities took part in the final fly-off event earlier this month to fly a completely autonomous Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) with a maximum 10kg with a variety of flight missions.
The UAS Challenge has been running since 2014 and is supported by partners Ansys, Leonardo, Callen-Lenz, BAE Systems/FalconWorks and Babcock, as well as over eighty volunteers
The competition rules allow for a wide interpretation for the UAS design, and 2025 saw a variety of different aircraft. Notable entrants this year include those launched with the help of self-designed catapult systems from Beihang University and Heriot-Watt University, together with an exotic VTOL tailsitter design from the Estonian Aviation Academy that managed to complete a successful autonomous flight and payload drop. This was another first for the competition.
Teams braved changing weather conditions across the week, including searing heat, rain and winds reaching over 20 knots to fly their UAS, leading to a record fourteen flights on the first full day and extended flight times to accommodate them later in the week.
The teams were charged with setting up their drone to operate autonomously, performing a series of tasks such as navigating waypoints, delivering a humanitarian aid package and returning to base via a defined route automatically, while also demonstrating its efficiency, manoeuvrability and sustainability.
The winners are:
Grand Champions: Team Bath Drones, University of Bath
Runners Up: Beihang Aeromodelling Team, Beihang University
Third Place: Fly-Mi, Politecnico Di Milano
Innovation Award: Team Blue Sparrow, Estonian Aviation Academy
Design Award: DroneTeam Twente, University of Twente
Simulation Award: Gryphon Arrows, University of Leeds
Scrutineering Award: Team Bath Drones, University of Bath
Safety Award: Fly-Mi, Politecnico Di Milano
Environmental Award: Team Bath Drones, University of Bath
Airworthiness Award: UCD UAV Team, University College Dublin
Operational Supportability Award: Team Blue Sparrow, Estonian Aviation Academy
Business Proposition Award: UCD UAV Team, University College Dublin
Most Promise Award: Team Aero-Watt, Heriot-Watt University
Advancement Award: DOPE Aerospace, University of Genova
Media and Engagement Award: DroneTeam Twente, University of Twente
Bath were the first in the competition to fly a fully autonomous mission, performing a take-off, successful waypoint navigation, payload drop and landing.
“To win this worldwide competition among really strong competition is a just amazing. The team have worked incredibly hard this year to make our drone even better in terms of how it flies and how it’s made, so to take the overall win is a great way to end our season,” said team lead Ashviny Ramanathan who has just completed a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering in Bath’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “It was a great experience that we plan to replicate next year.”
As well as the overall win, they also took home the environmental award for their all-new use of flax fibre composites in the drone’s fuselage, as well as the scrutineering award their systems and pre-flight processes. They were also runners up in the innovation, airworthiness and safety categories.
“As well as making a drone that flies beautifully, they also took on the additional challenge of reducing the impact of its manufacture as well by using plant-based composites, which they learned to work with and manufacture themselves,” said Dr Samuel Bull, a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and the team’s academic supervisor.
Full scoring for all the individual events will be available on the UAS Challenge website.
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