Polish student drone teams place in top five at SUAS competition

Polish student teams achieved notable success at the Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) competition held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The international event featured 64 teams from 10 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, and the United States.

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals from Saudi Arabia secured first place with their ASCENT drone, winning $4,000. Hacettepe University from Turkey took second place with the Simurgh-Y, receiving $3,000. The third-place position and $2,000 prize went to the KNR Drone team from Warsaw University of Technology. Additionally, the Solar Plane team from AGH University of Science and Technology placed fifth, earning $1,000 for their craft, Świerszcz.

Throughout the competition, teams completed a total of 55 flights, totaling 18 hours of airtime, though 21 of those attempts resulted in crashes. Beyond flight performance, the jury awarded prizes for technical documentation and website design, with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras receiving top honors in those categories. Hacettepe University also received a perseverance award after their drone was confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection upon arrival, forcing the team to rebuild their aircraft from scratch in Tulsa.