The sky is the limit, literally, for a team of Kildare College student airgineers who took up an opportunity to build their own micro-drone from scratch.
The students, who met weekly to work on the project which commenced in July, completed each element of the process themselves. From their initial research, they then designed, 3D printed, constructed and programmed the drone, trouble-shooting and re-engineering as required, to achieve a completed drone.
Once this was complete, the students mastered the art of flight, controlling the drone from First Person View through goggles that have a video feed to the drone, so that the pilot feels like they’re in the cockpit of the unit.
Based on a STEM challenge offered to secondary school age students in the UK, Kildare Science and STEM teacher Paul Beltrame offered the opportunity to a selected group of students to extend and enrich their learning.
“It is a great opportunity to extend our students’ critical and creative thinking outside of the classroom, and apply and use these skills in an intelligent way, while also preparing them for the jobs of the future. We also had a lot of fun along the way, as well as achieving great learning outcomes”, said Mr Beltrame.
The first flight occurred in October in the College’s new Multi-purpose centre.
