In 2019 I was one of the coordinators of the XQuad team. In this project, the challenge of autonomous drone racing was addressed, whose main objective is the development and programming of aerial vehicles capable of navigating at high speed on a predefined circuit without human intervention. The challenge was organized by Lockheed Martin, NVIDIA, and the Drone Racing League (DRL).
The team was formed by graduate students and professors from UFMG, members of the Computer Vision and Robotics Laboratory (VeRLab) and the Computer Systems and Robotics Laboratory (CORO/MACRO), belonging to the Graduate Programs in Computer Science (PPGCC) and Electrical Engineering (PPGEE).
The competition was divided into two phases. The first phase, called AlphaPilot, consisted of solving different tests and simulations. In this phase, more than 400 teams from all over the world participated, and the XQuad team was qualified in a total of only 9 teams. It is important to note that we were the only team in Latin America classified.
In the second phase of the competition, called Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR), the finalist teams had the opportunity to program the real drones of the Drone Racing League (DRL).
The event had great visibility and coverage of the international press such as The New York Times, Revista Forbes, and MIT Tech Review. The team was featured in national vehicles such as GloboNews, RedeTV e Estado de Minas.
For more information access: XQuad