These ISU drones wouldn’t harm a fly

Jens Manuel Krogstad

AMES, IA. — Drones will one day dot Iowa’s skies, saving lives and improving the environment one unmanned flight at a time, dreamers at Iowa State University say.

ISU students who showed off their creations last week on campus have good reason to believe this day will come sooner rather than later. The passion projects, created by students in their spare time, range from small hand-launched drones to solar-powered aircraft. Other projects at last week’s Make to Innovate expo included Mars rovers and flight simulators.

One of those students, Adam Kaplan, 23, an ISU senior in aerospace engineering, began his CyDrone project in 2009 in a garage as an extension of his lifelong love of flying. A group of 10 students now works on it.