Teknofest 2022 - International Free Mission UAV Competition

In the first part of August, Mateusz and Bartosz took part in Turkish technology competitions Teknofest 2022. They represented Poznan University of Technology with the SAE Aerodesign scientific club in the International Free Mission UAV Competition.

Teknofest 2022 mission

The team created a two-staged search and rescue (SAR) mission with a patrol unit based on an originally designed Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) UAV. Whereas, the rescue part was operated by our well-known multirotor Holybro. In the first phase, the patrol vehicle is supposed to localize the injured person and send detection GPS coordinates. In this task, the YOLO object detection algorithm is used and tested for versions 5 and 7. In the second stage, the provider has to deliver a first aid kit to the injured person as accurately as possible. For this purpose, the drone initially uses detection coordinates and then utilizes a semantic segmentation model, which segments continuously the area below. It enables positioning directly over the target. Once the position is appropriate, the UAV descends and delivery occurs at an altitude of 3 meters.

Results

Despite a sophisticated approach and several fully-completed tests, during the competition round, by minor mistakes and problems with detection model generalization, the mission failed, and we did not have an opportunity to showcase our full capabilities. Nevertheless, the judges recognized our efforts, and finally, we finished in 21st place among 96 participating teams.