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TU Graz team is international UAV challenge finalist

07/29/2016 | TU Graz news | Research | Studies

By Susanne Eigner

The “Graz Griffins” is one of only 10 student teams worldwide in the finals of a competition for search and rescue UAVs. The teams will compete for 1st place and the 100,000 dollar prize money at the end of August.

The "Graz Griffins", all students of TU Graz, are in the finals of the worldwide "DJI Developer Challenge". © ICG - TU Graz
Photographic material available for download at the end of the text.

The potential for drone applications goes far beyond taking bird's-eye view snap-shots or delivering parcels: Drones can also be life savers in search and rescue missions and a major asset in providing exact data in the precise localisation of injured persons or danger sources. Every year, the DJI Developer Challenge motivates numerous student and university teams from around the world to submit their ideas and development concepts for UAVs. The focus this year is on search and rescue aircraft. The prize money is 100,000 dollars. The Graz Griffins from Graz University of Technology have reached the final round as one of the best 10 teams out of 100 start contestants. They will present their UAV system and its capabilities in a real rescue operation at Rome, New York State at the end of August.

Challenge for search- and rescue aircraft

Friedrich Fraundorfer from the Institute for Computer Graphics and Vision is the team leader of the Graz Griffins, a team consisting of nine master and PhD students. Fraundorfer: “The task was identical for all teams: We had to develop image processing algorithms and integrate them in a UAV. In this competition scenario, the drone will have to take off from a vehicle and search for specific marks near the ground that represent victims. Then it has to fly back to the vehicle, land safely and report the data obtained and the locations it determined.” The teams had to document their progress in video films to achieve as many points as possible in the first two rounds of the contest. The team of TU Graz is the only Austrian team to have reached the finals and was invited to demonstrate its skills live in New York: “We are now investing a lot of time and effort in preparing for the live test of our system. Of course it is nice to see how intensive research in this field is bearing fruit not least among talented young scientists. Search and rescue operations are very realistic applications for UAVs”, Fraundorfer explains.
This research area ist attributed to the Field of Expertise "Information, Communication and Computing“, one of TU Graz' five strategic areas of research.

Information

The DJI Developer Challenge is organised by the Chinese technology company DJI in cooperation with Ford and the Development Programme of the United Nations, UNDP.

Visit the website of the DJI Developers Challenge and see the names of the final top ten teams.


Contact

Friedrich FRAUNDORFER
Ass.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn.
Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision
Phone: +43 660 6953020
Email: fraundorfer@icg.tugraz.at

Werner Alexander Isop, Ph.D. student at the Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision, is one of nine members of the "Graz Griffins". © ICG - TU Graz
The team now puts a lot of time and efford in preparing for the live test of their drone system at the end of August in the US. © Lunghammer - TU Graz
The team of the Institute of Computer Graphics and Vision also works with in- and outdoor drones. © Lunghammer - TU Graz