Flying high: Students win best poster prize at AHS event

Posted by Curtis Chan on August 7, 2013 in Students | 0 comments

A team of Penn State engineering students won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) Student Challenge earlier this summer at the American Helicopter Society (AHS) Forum 69 in Phoenix, Ariz.

Penn State’s Gnittany Gnat team won the Best Poster Presentation Award of $500 at the AHS Forum 69 in Phoenix, Ariz. (Photo by Jason L. Pereira)

The MAV Student Challenge tasked five student-research teams to design and build a vehicle capable of autonomous target acquisition and hover.

None of the teams were able to successfully complete the challenge. In addition to the Penn State team’s $500 prize for best poster for its Gnittany Gnat, the University of Texas at Austin won $1,000 for Best Manual Challenge Execution, which included flying line of sight to a target and then doing a sensor-guided, remotely operated hover over target.

The annual contest is sponsored by AHS International’s Unmanned Vertical Take Off and Landing Aircraft and Rotorcraft Committee, with $3,000 in prizes from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.

More on the contest can be found at: http://vtol.org/news/ahs-micro-air-vehicle-student-challenge-winners-announced.