St. Mary’s County, Maryland – RoboNation, a leading organization in robotics education and workforce development, has proudly announced its new role as the prestigious Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) Competition manager. With its expertise, resources, and commitment to fostering excellence in autonomous systems development, RoboNation is set to uphold the legacy of this internationally renowned event.
The highly anticipated SUAS Competition, now in its 21st year, commenced on June 20, 2023, and continued to shine a spotlight on the world’s brightest student talents in the realm of aerial autonomy. This global event drew participants from universities and high schools, challenging them to showcase their skills in autonomous aerial systems.
“The Seafarer Chapter, Inc. has created this outstanding international drone competition for the past 20 years. RoboNation is honored to take over that responsibility,” said Daryl Davidson, President & CEO of RoboNation. “The open nature of the SUAS competition catalyzes young innovators, fueling their innovation in autonomous aerial systems and encouraging groundbreaking ideas.”
With a mission to push technological boundaries while encouraging student involvement, the 2023 SUAS competition welcomed over 45 teams worldwide to the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport in California, Maryland. These teams dedicated countless hours to designing, building, and testing their unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
This year’s competition highlighted autonomous capabilities, prompting students to showcase their expertise in flight planning, obstacle detection, and target identification. From surveillance missions to search and rescue scenarios, the teams demonstrated their ability to navigate complex environments, analyze data, and make real-time decisions.
“We aim to empower students to develop practical solutions that tackle real-world challenges while fostering collaboration and industry connections,” stated Phillip Tischler, Technical Director of SUAS.
A panel of judges, consisting of industry experts, researchers, and educators with extensive experience in robotics, computer vision, and aerospace engineering, evaluated the teams. The criteria for evaluation included technical design, system integration, and overall performance.
Congratulations go to team ITUNOM UAV from Istanbul Technical University, which was awarded the distinction of being the 2023 SUAS Champion.
For further details about the 2023 SUAS competition, please visit the official website at https://suas-competition.org.
RoboNation is a nonprofit organization that provides hands-on robotics education that empowers students to seek innovative solutions to global challenges. With a portfolio of nine educational programs, ranging from K-12 to university level, RoboNation is nurturing the engineers, manufacturers, fabricators, programmers, and other skilled professionals of tomorrow. RoboNation participants represent the highly skilled workforce of the future. To learn more about RoboNation, visit their website at https://robonation.org.