Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) has brought home the general champion title in the “Kontes Robot Terbang Indonesia (KRTI) 2020”, an Indonesia Flying Robot Contest. KRTI is a national level competition for all universities in Indonesia in the realm of making and developing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).
There are four divisions of the competition in which the ITS team participated. They are Racing Plane (RP), Fixed Wing (FW), Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL), and Technology Development (TD). The Technology Development has three sub-divisions, i.e. TD Propulsion System, TD Air Frame Innovation, and TD Flight Controller.
In the Racing Plane’s division, each team must make as many rotations as possible within three minutes. Since the performance test was held virtually this year, the participants were allowed to do the test flight and then record it for the jury. Jatayujet_10, the flying robot of ITS team placed on the second podium in this division.
Meanwhile, Soerombier, ITS’ delegation for the Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) division, firmed its place as the first winner. For this section of the competition, the teams must operate their drones to place some loads on three targeted points led by QR code. The competition was also held virtually through Zoom platform. During the competition, ITS team faced difficulty as the Global Positioning System (GPS) did not function well in the indoor setting. However, the team still managed to be the fastest to complete all of the tasks.
The winning medal was also reaped by the ITS team (Bayusuta) in the Technology Development (TD) division. The ceaseless excellence and determination had made it possible for the team to earn their place on the winning podium in all three sub-divisions of the Technology Development.
With a hybrid plane made from plywood and balsa, the team earned the first position in the sub-divisions of TD Air Frame Innovation where they were required to make a UAV that was able to take off and landing seamlessly. Bayusuta also became the second runner up in the TD Flight Controller division where they must create drone which can be controlled both independently and simultaneously.
A similar achievement was accomplished by the team in another subdivision of Technology Development, which was the Propulsion System in which the team innovated by using a propeller made of coconut fibers.
The Anaryadirga team which delegated for the Fixed Wing division, completed all of the missions even though did not earn a place on the podium. In this division, each UAV must conduct aerial mapping and monitoring. Afterward, they were expected to drop weight in a certain coordinate. The jury then made an assessment based on how precise the weight landed on the targeted point.
Even though the ITS robotic team made great accomplishments, they faced struggles before the competition. The current public health condition made it impossible for all of the team members to be physically present and do the project together. Against the odds, the team did the unimaginable by bringing home the general champion title in all of the divisions. The team has the vision to keep being innovative and persistent to sustain its excellence.