DARPA UAVForge video submission time.

Tiaan Roux

Video submissions to for the DARPA sponsored $100,000 prize money UAV Forge competition should be flooding in. Teams submit their videos and the community created by DARPA then vote on their favourites.

Lets hope the FBI don’t decide that the teams entering are not a security threat. All of them will have given more thought to UAS flight than the recent “model aircraft terrorist”.

In Milestone 1, competing teams showcase their unique approach. A complete UAV is not required, but peer review of a substantive concept is the best path to a successful solution. You should consider things like credible weight and power budgets, consistent with the challenge course.

Consider your audience. We recommend getting your point across in 60 seconds or less. Use comments carefully, but feel free to add a pointer to more information for voters willing to take a deeper look.

Top voted submissions are encouraged to compete in the next phase. Lower rankings may inspire a winning modification to your initial approach.

Schedule

Submission Window:
· Opens October 19, 2011 at 0001 EDT
· Closes October 25, 2011 at 2359 EDT

Voting Window:
· Opens October 27, 2011 at 0001 EDT
· Closes November 2, 2011 at 2359 EDT

Submission

All official Concept Videos must be submitted to UAVForge via the “Manage Teams and Solutions” tab (there will be a few more layout changes coming to the site) during the open submission window. Team owners can submit one video that they would like to have commented and voted on by the crowd (only one solution per team is allowed; teams wishing to submit more than one solution must create multiple teams for multiple solutions).

Users will be able to “Like/Dislike” the solutions during the submission window. You will be able to apply this immediate feedback to help improve your video before the submission window closes (you will need to delete your previous submission and upload another solution).

Voting

During the open voting window you will be able to vote and comment on Concept Videos from the Home page. Simply log onto UAVForge, select a video, and give it 1-5 stars based on how well you think the concept meets the objectives (5 stars is the highest). You can change your vote anytime during the open window.

Don’t forget to leave comments to help the competing teams better improve their designs and foster a collaborative environment.

Results

Shortly after the close of the voting period, results of the crowd vote will be displayed on the UAVForge homepage. To clarify, this is a non-elimination round and teams will be able to join and compete until Milestone 3 in January 2012.

Also note that “Likes” and “Dislikes” from the submission window will have no direct bearing on the voting outcome.