Team Invictus from Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI) has secured 2nd position in Design, Build and Fly competition, hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The competition was participated by students from all across the globe together with renowned institutions like MIT, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. The group of Pakistani students from GIKI sealed the second spot by beating many from these institutions and brought the prize home.
The 2021 iteration of the competition aimed to build and test a UAV with a towed sensor. All the teams were tasked to design, fabricate and demonstrate the capabilities of their unmanned radio-controlled aircraft which is designed to meet a specific mission objective.
The announcement of GIK University says that the team used advanced manufacturing techniques which included 3D printed parts and a pod and boom aircraft configuration to get their design ready.
US Embassy of Pakistan also congratulated the winning team from GIKI via its social media platforms.
The team scored 85.9 for its proposal for the unmanned aircraft which was rated 1st best in Asia and 2nd best globally. The proposal document consisted of 60 pages of highly technical information plus fly-offs that took place in alternately in Kansas and Arizona, USA.
For the first time, digital collaboration tools had to be used for the competition due to COVID-19. The winning students’ team of GIKI is planning to become the face of the radio-controlled aircraft industry in Pakistan as their aim is to promote aeronautics and aviation as a hobby in the country to get more people committed.
