Flying Robots NYC Meetup Group Announces Inaugural Flying Robot Competition
The Flying Robots NYC meetup group today announced the inaugural Flying Robots NYC competition, to be held in Brooklyn on October 20th. The Flying Robots NYC competition is a project of the Flying Robots NYC Meetup group in order to promote the development of low-cost consumer-accessible flying robot technology. The contest will be held at the Radio Control Society of Marine Park’s field in Marine Park, Brooklyn. Winning contestants will receive valuable prizes provided by the event sponsors.
During the contest competitors will test their flying robots along a number of varied dimensions. Robots will compete on their ability to carry heavy objects and stay aloft for long periods of time. Competitors will also test their ability to build robots that can fly autonomously, sometimes using satellite-based navigation and other times navigating using machine vision technology.
“Competitions are a great way to build local community around new technology,” said Chris Anderson, founder of 3DRobotics, the primary sponsor of the competition, “so we are happy to support the Flying Robots NYC competition.” The first place competitor will receive an open source autopilot system courtesy of 3DRobotics.
“Then open source hardware movement has made flying robot technology accessible to everyone, not just the police and military,” said Sameer Parekh, C.E.O. of group sponsor Falkor Systems, Inc. “This technology has the potential to change the way we live and enrich our lives. Over the next few years more and more people will develop flying robot technology, and they will deploy many robots in commercial applications.”
The Flying Robots NYC group draws extensively from supporters in the local electronics technology community, including support from local sponsors such as Adafruit and xCubicle. Adafruit has offered discounts on their entire catalog to members of the Flying Robots NYC community, and xCubicle has been providing meeting space for group members to meet, plan, and get to know one another.
