Abuzz at the Drone Fair

Last Friday a group of Year 6, 7 and 8 students attended the inaugural Drone Fair at RMIT City Campus facilitated by She Maps, the industry leaders in Drone Education. The students learnt how drones are being used with software applications in a variety of ways including: analysing Great Barrier Reef bleaching events, counting Koala populations using thermal imaging, and drone delivery of vital medicines, such as immunisations to remote locations. Our instructor Katie also challenged our societal "unconscious bias" that has led to smaller numbers of female students following technological career pathways and she encouraged all students to be open to the possibilities of future drone careers. Working in small teams and rotating through the roles of pilot, co-pilot and reporter, our students learnt how to safely set-up and manually pilot their drones through many skill-based challenges. Lastly, students were given a rescue scenario which required them to calculate and code a drone to autonomously survey the scene, travelling between key landmarks on a large scale city map. After demonstrating their new knowledge and skills, our students were awarded their Junior Drone Pilots Licence. Our students were buzzing with excitement and are eager to test their skills further in the Tournament of Drones activities in Term 4. 

A Federal Government Grant (Student Science Engagement and International Competitions 2021-22) was received earlier this year to fund our participation in the Drone Fair, purchase a class set of drones for class and club use, and enable our participation in the Tournament of Drones in Term 4. 

Keep your eyes peeled for Drone Club activities to be held on Tuesdays in the Senior School Technology Centre in Term 3.

To see images from the day, please click here. 

 Heath McGregor

MERIT Coordinator

Making, Engineering, Robotics and Innovative Technologies