A team from Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT has won the TUE prize for best prototype with its drone project. In the 'MultiRotorResearch' project, artificial intelligence (ai) is used to teach the drone to fly based on human flight behavior. According to project leader Sieuwe Elferink, ai has not been applied in this way before.
He argues that drones are difficult to use. The learning curve is steep. But in the end, humans are still the best drivers. Elferink: "People can handle unexpected situations smartly, which computers find difficult. As with self-driving cars, the Fontys students use the idea of end-to-end-ai. 'Elferink: 'With machine learning, the drone has 'learned' how to deal with obstacles. With our drone, you can schedule a mission between two GPS coordinates, and the drone can travel independently and also avoid trees, for example.'
Elferink recently transformed the MultiRotorResearch project into his own company. He sees the demand for industrial applications of drones quadrupling. They are good for use in agriculture, for inspections and to map areas.
Some sixty teams competed in various categories in TU Eindhoven's Engineers of Tomorrow Challenge. Fontys Hogeschool ICT won the Prototyping Award, with five thousand euros in prize money for Sieuwe Elferink's team as well.
