Pembroke Students' Success at the IUDRO UK National Showcase
Today's blog is by Pembroke College First Person View (PCFPV)
Pembroke College First Person View (PCFPV) is a newly founded society dedicated to flying drones using VR-goggles. Michaelmas and Lent terms saw beginner members testing their skills indoors and on the simulator. The Easter Vacation marked the start of racing season - and the advent of the International Universities Drone Racing Organisation (IUDRO) – an organisation devoted to hosting inter-university drone racing. Pilots John Hughes and Ben James represented the university at the inaugural IUDRO competition; finishing 2nd overall with Hughes placing 3rd individually.
More recently, John Hughes and Eliott Lindsay made the trip to Coventry University to partake in the UK National Showcase – the largest drone racing event organised by IUDRO to date and hosted alongside automotive festival MotoFest. Cambridge competed against top drone pilots from Imperial College London, Coventry University, Aston University as well as semi-professional racing team KillaKwads. Racers had to complete a course in a car-park, navigating a series of gated checkpoints, whilst maximising the number of laps they completed in 3 minutes. The presence of concrete pillars raised the stakes of the racing and battered the drones of experienced and novice racers alike.
Visit https://youtu.be/w-q3MgaMAlk to view some of the drone race footage.
Careful and consistent flying secured Cambridge’s position in each of the semi-final races, with Hughes competing directly against Bob from KillaKwads, for a spot in the final. The racing was fierce with each pilot exploring the outer limits of their abilities. With 30 seconds left on the clock, Hughes overtakes Bob to take the lead. This exuberant move was quickly followed by a crash with the car-park floor, which left Hughes’ drone upside down and seemingly helpless. With PCFPV ambitions rapidly evaporating, minds focused and Hughes carefully flipped his drone back upright under its own power, to successfully complete his final lap. Enough had been done to finish second and secure one position in the final!
The field for the final round was composed of four racers: Bob & ‘Seek’ (from KillaKwads), Cambridge and Imperial. The racing was close and clean, right up until a spectacular crash from Imperial College brought down one of the gated checkpoints, and led to them retiring. A minor hiccup from Bob left his propellers damaged and his drone un-flyable: it was now a two-horse race between John and ‘Seek’ (who was leading). John was unable to close the gap to the KillaKwads member and settled for a second-place finish yet again.
On an individual level, John Hughes claimed the title for fastest student pilot.
The final university standings were calculated based on the aggregate score of the two rounds of IUDRO. An impressive performance from Imperial at the inaugural IUDRO competition put Cambridge in second place overall (only one point behind Imperial!).
In summary, the racing was both good fun as well as fruitful for the PCFPV trophy cabinet. Being one of the first events of its kind to be organised in the UK, we hope inter-university drone racing can continue to gather increasing levels of interest both within the university and across the nation.
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IUDRO report on inaugural competition
IUDRO report on final competition