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Ones to Watch Every other month, Unmanned Systems takes a look at especially promising students or student teams entering the world of unmanned systems. Many will have taken part in one of AUVSI’s student competitions, where they proved their aptitude with cutting-edge technology. All of them are worth getting to know.

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he University of Manitoba and the Delhi College of Engineering both recently participated as two of the three international teams at AUVSI’s Seventh Annual Student Unmanned Aircraft Systems Competition. According to University of Manitoba professor and faculty

Shunjie Lau Born: Singapore, 1980 Academic Status: Graduates from the University of Manitoba at the end of 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Plans to do a master’s program in the coming year. How He Got Interested in Unmanned Systems: I was always fascinated by artificial intelligence and how it could be applied as a practical solution to real-life problems. Unfortunately, there weren’t many opportunities available for me back then in my home country. That’s when I decided to try my luck doing overseas studies in North America, where the chances to do work with robotics are higher. Fortunately, I was introduced to the UAS team through a professor here at the university, and there I was given the opportunity to work with aerial autonomous systems. The only thing cooler than a robot is a flying robot! What He Learned From the Competition: Teamwork is the essential ingredient to success. No matter how good the skills of one team member are, without the team working and standing together as one, success will be unlikely. It is also important to have confidence in your teammates and your own work too. Project management is something I picked up along way. Every year teammates come and go, and to be able to make the transition as smooth as possible, some effort has to be put into it. And during the competition each year, it is obvious every team put in a lot of effort, and very often we will see some wonderful ideas. It is most definitely the best chance to learn, show your work and know what direction to take to improve. Advice for Up and Coming Students: Initially, I was overwhelmed by the difficulty of the project but realized soon enough that as long as progress—no matter how small—is made constantly, nothing is too difficult to finish. Similar

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Unmanned Systems — August 2009

adviser Jacky Baltes, Shunjie Lau will likely be team leader for the 10th-place college next year. Rochak Chadha was team leader this year for Delhi, which won $1,500 for the Director’s Award and came in 16th.

to running a marathon, the distance may seem long, but every step made is one step closer to the finish line. So don’t be afraid of taking on difficult work: The more challenging the work, the more opportunities to learn are given. I believe effort positively correlates with the quality of the work, and this is exactly what distinguishes one from others. What He’d Like to Do: I have been involved with UAS for a while now, but there are still many interesting things to learn. There are many UAS applications out there and it would be great to get involved in some cutting-edge research. So I hope my experience with UAS and my degree would open doors for me to more research opportunities. The field of UAS is considered young in technology years, and there is much exciting work going on that can be applied to UAS, like machine learning, computer vision or nature-inspired technologies, and I want to get involved instead of left out. The Biggest Challenge He Sees Facing the Industry: Industry wise, I believe the biggest challenge would be how to achieve widespread adoption and acceptance of UAS by the general public. Sometimes, when I talk to some people about my work, they would often ask questions along the lines of usability, reliability and applications. Just like computers back in the ’60s, the applications of UAS are not common in the public now and development work with UAS is not trivial. If the development framework or platform could be made simple enough where anybody could work on their own, then there would be more incentives for people to work on UAS. As more applications are made, this would help in the adoption and acceptance by the general public. One day we might even see a small unmanned vehicle doing pizza delivery. Read us online at auvsi.org/publications

Rochak Chadha Born: New Delhi, India, 1989 Academic Status: Graduates from the Delhi College of Engineering in June 2011 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronics and communications. Plans to pursue a master’s course in control systems. How He Got Interested in Unmanned Systems: I started with small robotics competitions in which I used to work mainly on the part of electronics and putting together the hardware necessary for the robot. I, along with my team, won a robotics competition organized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers at the inter-college level. That was where I actually got interested in autonomous systems. Then AUVSI’s International Aerial Robotics Competition excited me, however it was a very tough challenge especially for us because our college does not have a dedicated course on aerospace. AUVSI’s UAS competition had a comparatively easier problem statement, thus me and my team decided to pursue this competition. We decided to develop the autopilot for the UAV on our own, and this was the most exciting part for me. I decided to take a shift from my usual job of embedded systems and hardware integration and decided to study control systems for the UAV. Now my job in the team is to design the control system for the UAV, and I would be very happy to pursue a carreer in it as well. What He Learned From the Competition: In a project as huge as building a UAV, teamwork is essential. One cannot be a jack of all trades. You need to assign jobs to your fellow team members and ensure that work is done on time. Team management is another important aspect which this competition taught me. In my case, apart from technical work, I had to ensure that adequate sponsorship was raised for the development and transportation of the vehicle for the competition. I am happy to say that at the end we managed to develop the vehicle and participate in the competition as well. Another thing I learned from the competition was testing before attempting. Everything that you plan to put on your

Read us online at auvsi.org/publications

system must be first extensively tested on ground in simulations and then in hardware in loop before putting it in the air. Advice for Up and Coming Students: First, be open to new ideas. In a team, everyone has a different approach to solving a particular problem, therefore you must listen to everyone. At the same time, you must listen to those who have already worked in the same field. You can always learn from their mistakes and if not anything else, at least you will not repeat what they have already done. My final advice would be to those students who will be continuing the project that was started by their seniors, and that is do not start from scratch; always try to continue the work that has already been done rather than starting all over again. What He’d Like to Do: I would like to be involved with this project throughout my undergraduate courses, and later I would like to pursue a carreer in UAVs. My chief interest is in development of low-cost UAVs for use in city environments for applications in traffic management, law enforcement, etc. UAVs have already proved their metal in battlefields (Predator and Global Hawk), however UAVs have yet to have a direct impact on the general public. UAVs that will be used in cities must be extremely reliable in all situations so that they do not pose a risk to the city population. They must be easily deployable and lastly should require a small crew to operate. The Biggest Challenge He Sees Facing the Industry: The biggest challenge for the UAV industry is the development of reliable systems that can work in all environments. The research in the UAV industry has been tremendous, however it will take time before they are actually converted to marketable products, because the system that has to be developed needs to be reliable and work perfectly in all situations. Therefore, this time between the lab and the market needs to be reduced.

Unmanned Systems — August 2009

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