Winning Entry Is VTOL Emergency Responder
A student team from the University
of Missouri-Rolla took first place in a national competition
sponsored by the Redstone Chapter of the American Helicopter
Society, beating out Georgia Tech and the University of
Alabama-Huntsville with their small unmanned helicopter.
Dubbed "Project SAVER," the helicopter is capable of vertical
takeoff and landing and was designed to assist first responders in
emergency situations, which is the whole purpose of the
competition. The vehicle is a semi-autonomous VTOL emergency
responder -- a coaxial, contra-rotating blade helicopter featuring
a side-mounted camera.
Each student team was required to design and build a small VTOL
unmanned aerial vehicle that could safely operate in and around
buildings and the UMR aircraft does just that. A semi-autonomous
control system and unique sensor suite allows it to be operated in
and around buildings and outside of the line of vision of the
ground station operator according to UMR.
"In the competition, we had to fly around a building and look
into the windows with the camera," says Tim Assel, a graduate
student in aerospace engineering.
The team qualified for the national competition last year, when
their design was selected as a winning project. The team received
$5,000 to build the vehicle and the students have spent the past
year building the helicopter and securing additional funding.
"Our ultimate goal of forming and nurturing student teams such
as the First Responder Team is to inspire, engage and educate
students in order to produce well-prepared graduates who quickly
adapt to technical innovations and are more competitive and
productive throughout their careers," says team advisor Dr. Fathi
Finaish, professor and associate chair of mechanical and aerospace
engineering at UMR. "The rapidly changing technical world and the
demands of future workforce requirements entail that future
engineers must maintain an up-to-date knowledge and possess unique
skills in order for them to be able to function in a high-tech
global world."
The vehicle was evaluated based on total system weight, time to
complete mission, number of object hits and total system cost.
Members of the First Responder Design Team are: Tim Assel of
Cameron, MO; Peter Cross of Ash Grove, MO; Ryanne Dolan of Lake St.
Louis; Paul Drews of Saint Charles, MO; Paul Leonard of Seattle,
WA; Trey Lewellen of O'Fallon; Nick Lessley of Forsyth, MO; Brian
Magaha of Saint Peters, MO; and Paul Robinette of Maryland Heights,
MO.