Rob Coppinger: August 2008 Archives

Seen in this video is one of two unmanned air vehicles used by UK Ministry of Defence's August 2008 Grand Challenge winner Team Stellar. Team Stellar won the challenge that required autonomous vehicles to identify threats such as marksmen and armed militia.

The UAV seen in the video is Team Stellar's 1.8kg (3.96lb) "medium level" vehicle that is launched by bungee cord after the team's 7kg "hi-level" unmanned aircraft has maps an area.

credit: Mod

On Thursday 14 August the UK's Ministry of Defence held its media day for its Grand Challenge competition that was conducted from 16-18 August with the winner being announced on the 19th.

Middlesex University's Team I-Spy tri-rotor unmanned air vehicle was developed over 15-months starting in March 2007.

A team of six including two lecturers and doctoral and undergraduate students, the vertical take-off and landing UAV has an endurance of up to 15min using Lithium Polymer batteries and can carry a payload of 1kg (2.2lb).

The team took the tri-rotor to the UK Ministry of Defence's Grand Challenge, held 16-19 August 2008, but did not demonstrate it preferring to show an unmanned ground vehicle. Although the tri-rotor uses a helicopter version of the Micropilot autopilot software it had had "stability issues".

This video shows a test flight of UK technology company Qinetiq's Team Cortex unmanned air vehicle.

The 3kg (6.6lb) UAV is a tail sitting fixed wing dual rotor design with a 1.5m wingspan that transitions to horizontal flight as it accelerates. It uses an onboard autopilot, GPS and can carry an optical payload. Developed for the UK Ministry of Defence's Grand Challenge, held from 16-19 August 2008, the team's UAV crashed during the pre-competitive trials and the team was unable to compete.