Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Actually, it’s a drone.
As drones continue to circulate the sky and media, a group of UF students created an outlet to make their own on campus.
JeanCarlos Asencio started Unmanned Aerial Gators this semester after noticing UF students didn’t have an avenue to create their own drones, unmanned aerial vehicles used for anything from spying on foreign countries to taking selfies.
"Many universities have clubs catered to people interested in drones, and I always wondered why UF did not, especially considering its substantial background in aeronautics and micro-aerial vehicle design," the UF aerospace engineering sophomore said.
Asencio, 19, joined forces with Eric Wagner, a UF mechanical engineering senior and the club’s external vice president. The Unmanned Aerial Gators will be led by Peter Ifju, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the co-program director and aerospace lead of the UF Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research Program.
"We were able to round up others who were also interested in drones and come up with a game plan," Wagner, 21, said. "Having other people interested in the technology helped all of the pieces come together and drove us to start the organization."
About 50 students attended the first meeting Oct. 14.
With Ifju’s guidance, the organization’s first project will be the development of a quadcopter, which is a hovering helicopter-like vehicle with four separate propellers. The members said they are hoping to fundraise about $1,000.
The vehicle will have a camera to capture live video so the team members can view the device’s surroundings in real time and enhance its autonomous flight capability.
The team members said they plan to create the quadcopter and use it to compete internationally next Spring, but it’s still in the design phase.
"It’s all ideas, it’s all modeling, it’s all putting the concepts and pieces together," Wagner said.
The Unmanned Aerial Gators will have to face the strict regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration, which defines the conditions under which devices can and can’t fly in public.
The organization is hoping to bypass the FAA’s monthslong permit process by getting permission to fly in UF-owned airspaces or the new indoor football practice facility.
The members said they’re enthused about learning together and developing new devices.
"The sky’s the limit as far as drone development is concerned — both literally and figuratively," Ifju said. "It’s only up to the imagination of people to define what’s next with drones."
