UAS Challenge: build a drone and get a sense of working in industry (and have fun on the way).

We spoke to UAS Challenge head judge Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal to find out why engineering students should get involved in the challenge, as well as what he looks for in a winning team.

Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal believes the event is a fantastic way for young engineers to get a taste of what it is like to be an engineer working in industry.

“The UAS Challenges introduces undergraduates to the processes we actually use in industry,” he says.

“The teams create a concept paper describing their ideas to meet the requirements of the challenge, then go through a preliminary design, critical design and flight readiness review process, prior to arriving at the demonstration site in Wales.

“These are the stages that industry goes through, and it is a great learning experience for the teams.

“It is also a fun event that involves designing and building a drone and then seeing something you’ve made actually fly,” he adds.

Lambert's team of judges all have a wealth of experience working in industry, and like to pass on their knowledge to the teams to make their drones as successful as possible.

“We try and give the teams constructive feedback at each stage of the judging process to help them think through to the next stage of the competition in a way that ensures they have a working drone at the end,” he says.

“One of the keys to being a winning team is accurately capturing the requirements of the Challenge”.

“Teams need to make sure they think carefully about what it is they are trying to do and go back over their designs at each stage to ensure it is meeting the requirements and following all the rules.”

This year’s fly off event is taking place between 16 June to 18 June at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre in Llanbedr, Wales.