{"id":12,"date":"2015-11-18T16:34:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T16:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/uas4stem\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2025-12-10T21:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:14:40","slug":"the-machine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/uas4stem\/the-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Your team will design and build a quadcopter drone\/UAS (uncrewed aircraft system) in order to complete the mission<\/a>. You may select and purchase your own system components based on the list of competition specifications (example below, refer to the rulebook for the most up-to-date information)<\/em>. To purchase pre-packaged compliant drone components for UAS4STEM, visit www.quadzilladrone.com<\/a> or www.readymaderc.com<\/a> to learn more about available options.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Students will complete an online ground school that covers basics of flight, safety, the national airspace, and more. Teams will also need to learn how to program an autopilot system, so that the tasks can be performed autonomously. Through our partner SIMNET, competitors will have access to obtain training and certification in ArduPilot Mission Planner software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teams competing in the advanced division will design and fabricate a custom mechanism for the drone to complete the specific mission challenge presented in the rule book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each team will need a laptop to function as a ground control station. This, combined with the quadcopter drone, will form a complete system (sUAS) that will be operated by your team to complete the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example airframe specifications<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n