MATHWORKS MINIDRONE COMPETITION POLAND 2023

What is this event?

Last Friday, March 24, 2023, the finals of the next edition of the prestigious drone programming competition - MathWorks Minidrone Competition Poland 2023 - took place at Poznan University of Technology. This event is aimed at students and enthusiasts of programming and aviation who want to put their skills and knowledge into practice - to create innovative projects using drones.

MathWorks Minidrone Competition is a series of drone programming competitions organized in various countries around the world by MathWorks - a leading developer of software for engineers and scientists. It aims to identify the best algorithm designed for autonomous drone navigation to navigate along a predetermined path without a GPS signal. The competition is very popular in Poland, and this year's edition attracted many drone technology enthusiasts from all over Poland to Poznan.

Round 1 | Simulation

During the competition, participants had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in drone programming and control system design. The competition consisted of two phases: online preliminaries and finals. In the online phase, participants were tasked with developing a simulation of an algorithm that would allow a drone to move autonomously along a designated path and land at a designated location in the shortest possible time. The best teams were qualified for the finals, which were held live.

Round 2 | Implementation

The final round of the MathWorks Minidrone Competition Poland took place the previous Friday (March 24, 2023) at Poznan University of Technology. Teams were tasked with implementing the algorithms designed during the simulation round into a Parrot Mambo minidrone, and the jury, which included one of our employees Bartosz Błęcki, evaluated the projects in terms of originality, innovation and efficiency of task implementation. During the event, participants also had the opportunity to talk to representatives of the aerospace and drone industry and listen to our company presentation. Before the official trials began, test rounds were held, during which teams were able to test the algorithm's performance in practice and adapt it to the prevailing conditions. In the final round, teams had the opportunity to carry out 7 flight tests in a maximum time of 15 minutes.

Winners

In the finals, the best was the team of the Student Astronautical Circle from the Warsaw University of Technology, whose drone made a correct flight in the shortest time of 17.3 seconds! Second place went to the Mumbo Jumbo team from the AGH University of Science and Technology, and 3rd to DroneLab also from the Warsaw University of Technology. Congratulations to the winners and all participants!

Co-organizing such an inspiring event to support young and talented developers who are passionate about drones is pure pleasure and motivation for our team to continue. This competition is also a great opportunity for students and drone enthusiasts to expand their skills and gain experience in designing and programming drone control systems, as well as a chance to get interested in technical majors and get to know more about the drone industry including us - the aeroMind team.