Alan Del Ciampo, Archie Jennings and Ptolemy Carnell, write:
On Friday 10th November, a group of eight Year 9 engineering students embarked a minibus to travel to the Raytheon Quadcopter STEM Challenge Regional Final in Harlow.
They had built their drones from a list of parts and instructions. They had to work as a team and use their engineering knowledge to construct it.
However, they had to decorate their drones too. The theme was WW1 and both teams had to pick an animal that helped in The Great War.
Team A picked a carrier pigeon. They vacuum formed a pigeon head and used the 3D printer to attach legs.
Team B picked a dog. They got inspiration from Sergeant Stubby (the first dog to get the rank of Sergeant) The dog was made from wooden cut outs which were velcroed to the drone.
After countless hours spent after school, preparing and building the drone, they needed to practice flying. This was done at school on the field – a softer landing on grass to avoid breaking parts before the final. They still managed to break numerous rotors and rotor guards.
On the day, both Quadcopters were tested thoroughly before flying and one needed a motor change. Two courses were attempted and both were still working well, despite a couple of heavy landings. More repairs were needed and duct tape was called for when spare rotor guards and legs ran out.
Both teams managed to keep flying until the end of the competition and valuable flying tips were learnt. A most enjoyable day and many thanks to Raytheon for the opportunity to build and fly a Quadcopter.
