Three Hong Kong Polytechnic University students reaching for the skies won honors in the Taiwan Innovative Unmanned Aircraft Design Competition.
With their plane, called Poly-Phoenix, senior mechanical engineering students Tse Chun-yin, Siu Man-chun and Pang Ho-yin placed second runner-up last month in the navigated flight category to earn Hong Kong's first award in the annual event launched seven years ago.
A team from National University of Singapore and another from Taiwan finished first and second, respectively.
The three Hong Kong students, all in their early 20s, named their drone after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes after their prototype crashed weeks before the competition.
"It [third place] was really unexpected as our prototype crashed during the Lunar New Year," Tse said.
"We couldn't repair it as many shops selling parts were closed during that time. We had to rush and create a new plane."
A total of 93 teams joined the competition, where they were required to build an unmanned aircraft from scratch and integrate it with advanced Global Positioning System technology. They performed a simulated rescue mission and identified four missing objects.
They were also graded on payload weights, technical reports, presentations and manufacturing qualities.
The three began their preparation in July last year - and their journey was no easy route.
"We faced several problems. For instance, civil aviation regulations in Hong Kong do not allow us to test drive our plane in school, so we had to go to Tuen Mun where it is legal to fly our plane," said Siu.
Su Zhongqing, associate professor of mechanical engineering, praised the students: "We are very proud of our students, who had to overcome so many obstacles to emerge as second runner-up."
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