IARC 2012: The First Outdoor Unmanned Aerial Robot Contest in Indonesia
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - The Association Student of Aerospace Engineering (KMPN) ITB held Indonesian Aerial Robot Contest (IARC), an unmanned aerial robot contest on Friday-Sunday (02-04/11/12). Differ from the previous year's contest, IARC 2012 was the first outdoor unmanned aerial robot contest in Indonesia. Being held at Sulaiman Airfield, Kopo, this contest was the closing event of IARC 2012, which had been started with "Aerobotics and Manufacturing Drones" workshop held in September.
This event was started with remarks from the Head of IARC 2012, Diaddra Pramudito. According to him, IARC 2012 was held to socialize unmanned aerial vehicle. "Beside, this contest was also a place for those who are fond of aerial robot to maximize their potential in innovating aerial robot creatively," said Diaddra. The representative from National Aeronautics and Space Institute, Sulistyo Atmadi, was also attending this contest.
A great enthusiasm of aerial robot from public was proved by the numerous people registering to participate this contest. There were 30 participants who passed the preselection. These participants came from SMA Muhammadiyah 2 Sidoarjo, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Universitas Diponegoro, Universitas Gajah Mada, Institut Teknologi Telkom, and participants from other regions in Indonesia.
The contest itself was started with validation, a stage for determining the aerial vehicles' eligibility. At this stage, the structure's solidity, system's eligibility, and pilot simulation were being tested. After passing the validation stage, contestants had to present their creation in front of the jury, undertook the aviate test, and executed missions.
There are 2 missions contested in this event, which are Payload Dropping Mission for high school category and Object Identifying Mission for college and general category. In Payload Dropping, contestants were required to drop 3 loads containing 125 grams weighted rice at the targeted dropping point. While in Object Identifying, contestants were required to perform an air survey in targeted area, and identify the objects put in the area.
A lot of contestants had utilized advanced technologies in Object Identifying Mission. Aerobotik.com, a team from Lampung, had succeeded in utilizing a Quadcopter vehicle with an autonomous module using GPS Waypoint System. With these advanced technologies, the objects' shapes were identified with an aerial camera system.
SAFT team from SMA Muhammadiyah 2 Sidoarjo won the first place in Payload Dropping Mission for high school category, while APTRG QC team from IT Telkom was pronounced as the overall winner in Object Identifying Mission.
"By organizing this contest, we wish to stimulate Indonesian aerospace world to master advanced technologies which can be used in various instruments in this country, especially in aerospace," said Diaddra.
scan for download
